THE Fair Work Commission may be asked to intervene in the “restructuring” of a department by Mornington Peninsula Shire.
It is understood that the nearly 40-strong shire’s rangers and local laws team have been told they may be facing redundancies or have to reapply for their positions.
Environment protection manager John Rankine told The News on Friday 9 March that the shire was yet to make a decision.
“The shire is currently undertaking a consultation process with its staff and it is inappropriate to comment while the staff consultation phase is underway,” Mr Rankine said.
“The shire respects the consultation process for its team members.”
Mr Rankine did not respond to questions about why the changes were being made or if councillors had been told.
Yesterday (Monday 26 March) Australian Services Union organiser Ty Lockwood said he would lodge a dispute application with the Fair Work Commission if he was unable to reach agreement with the shire this week.
He planned to meet later this week with Vicki Bishop, the shire’s change management facilitator.
In a letter to compliance staff earlier this month Mr Lockwood said the shire’s restructure proposed making some positions redundant “and a number of newly created positions at a higher classification banding have been proposed as replacements”.
He said the ASU had a “different view” to how the shire was implementing its “redeployment process”.
The shire and the union has “respectfully agreed to disagree” on interpretations of the shire’s staff enterprise agreement.
Mr Lockwood said any application to involve the Fair Work Commission would be aimed to resolving the dispute “as to not necessarily delay this process more than required”.
“We understand this is an anxious time for all members involved and our aim is to handle this process with respect and to ensure job security is the highest priority,” he said.
First published in the Western Port News – 27 March 2018
