Legislation introduced for personnel, industrial matters

Press, 28 July 1989, Page 6

Legislation introduced for personnel, industrial matters

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

and JENNY LONG

Legislation was also introduced yesterday to deal with the personnel and industrial matters in implementing the Government’s reform of education. The State Sector Amendment Bill repeals the part of the State Sector Act, 1988, that deals with the education service and substitutes new sections. It will give effect to agreements reached in this year’s primary and secondary school industrial award negotiations. The Minister of State Services, Mr Rodger, said the primary schools’ award settlement had reached agreement on all the main reform issues in “Tomorrow’s Schools.” Unfortunately, he said, it had not been possible to reach similar agreement on all issues in the secondary school teachers’ award. In particular, contracts for senior staff and national standards had been left to the Government to finalise. The bill provides for up to five positions in each secondary school

to be placed on contract — including the principal and senior teaching staff. Mr Rodger said this would bring the processes governing employment of senior secondary school positions into line with those for senior staff elsewhere in the State services. The bill provides for contracts to be open-ended rather than for a fixed term, but will otherwise be much the same as for other State agencies. , The State Services Commission is required to agree with the content of contrcts before tha can be signed. This does not mean that the Commission will actually negotiate the contracts; rather that it will set some basic criteria for boards of trustees to use and the boards will determine individual contracts. The bill also provides a facility to set national criteria for conduct and performance standards, and Mr 1 Rodger said there would be full consultation with the unions before implementing any conduct and performance measures. The Government was accused of deceit and legislation by stealth by

the Opposition’s education spokesman, Dr Lockwood Smith. The teachers’ union, the P.P.T.A., has always opposed contracts, and had successfully blocked their introduction during the recently settled award round. The P.P.T.A.’s president, Ms Ruth Chapman, warned yesterday that "changing the conditions of a settled award round was not the action of a democratic Government. “It is clearly a punitive act agains the P.P.T.A." The secretary of the Council of Trade Unions, Mr Ron Burgess, said that the Government’s decision to cut across an award agreement was not- acceptable to the C.T.U. “The Government cannot have it both ways. Negotiations are a process of give and take.” Mr Burgess said the Government had followed a policy of nonintervention in industrial matters. “In this case, however, it has consciously used its legislative powers to impose upon the union and its members, conditions to which they are opposed.” Mr Burgess said the Government would be wise to reconsider its decision before embarking on a path of confrontation.