Money Spread Over Four Years

The Government boost artificially inflates their new staff commitment as it includes existing vacancies when filled as “new employees” and our child protection members know this is rubbery and are extremely disappointed.

This is a very small step but what was needed was a giant stride by a government with the courage to take decisive action to inject the resources needed immediately.

Its actually four very tiny steps as the money is spread over four years in a manner which will do little to resolve existing workload problems, keep staff in the system or entice new employees to join the service.

The government also appears to be including existing vacancies when filled as “new employees”.

It's clear the government wants to fix the problem but they just don't want to spend the money required.

If the claimed 200 started tomorrow it would barely scratch the surface of the 2000 unallocated cases awaiting assignment and would do nothing to ease the massive caseloads of existing staff that the Ombudsman identified in the annual report.

The 30% increase of child protection clients on court orders has grown with the increases in reporting occupations such as teachers, police and health workers but the government provided no planned release of resources to cope with it when the system was already struggling.

Many Child Protection workers are carrying caseloads two and a half times the department’s unofficial recommended average of 12 individual children.

The government needed to do three things:

1. Determine a caseload ceiling for individual workers so that the best social work practice could be applied to children and families.
2. Employ hundreds of more people to achieve a proper caseload limit
3. Establish a proper professional rate of pay and conditions to keep the current staff from leaving the system, entice staff back and provide an incentive for new recruits.

Tackling these three components together provides a solution and a caseload limit is the heart of it.

Friday’s announcement is a miserly and deceitful approach tackling only part of one aspect meaning the package will fail.

The department will continue to lose staff, it will not be able to recruit and a year from today we will still be facing the same challenge.

The government has effectivley doubled the number of unfilled vacancies with it's package and doesn't address the staffing problems.

Existing rates of pay are utterly uncompetitive with other professional rates by about 20% - a beginning social worker starts on $47700.

The union tried to address the workforce issues in the last Enterprise Agreement round concluded in June but was told categorically by the department that there was no money from the government to do anything about it.

The government’s fiscal obsession has blinded it to its social obligations.

Please distribute this bulletin and ask your colleagues to join CPSU. Membership forms can be downloaded at www.cpsuvic.org.

Our 7 day a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year industrial protection ensures you have the principal public sector organisation looking after your working rights, winning wage increases, protecting your conditions, and providing personal industrial assistance when you need it.

CPSU MEMBERSHIP IS PROTECTION FOR YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ASSET. YOUR JOB.

Speak to a colleague today about the benefits of CPSU membership and have them contribute to our successes rather than just enjoying the benefits.

TOGETHER WE DO BETTER!

http://www.cpsuvic.org/public_docs/Work-Can-Change-membership-flyer.pdf
http://www.cpsuvic.org/public_docs/memform.pdf

KAREN BATT
Victorian Branch Secretary

Tuesday 22 September 2009