- New Wages Policy to attract and retain skilled
and valued public sector workers
- $2.8 billion set aside in upcoming Mid-year
Review for future negotiation of new public sector industrial agreements
- Principles-based policy will deliver fair wage
increases and continue WA Labor's sustainable Budget management
- Public Sector Wages Policy will be flexible and
allow for bargained outcomes with public sector unions, and be complemented by
investment in public sector capability
The
Cook Labor Government has today reaffirmed its commitment to attracting and
retaining highly skilled and valued public servants with the release of a new
Public Sector Wages Policy.
The
new principles-based wages policy is flexible and will allow for bargained
outcomes with individual public sector unions.
The policy will
prioritise bargaining outcomes that improve public sector operations and
performance, deliver fair but financially sustainable wage increases and
conditions, and support longer-term attraction and retention of public sector
workers.
It will also continue to
support initiatives that underpin the Cook Government's preference for direct
and permanent employment in the public sector.
While
the full financial impacts will be finalised at the end of the bargaining
process, $2.8 billion has been provisioned in the upcoming Mid-year Review
over the forward estimates period to allow for negotiation of wage and non‑wage
workforce conditions as part of new industrial agreements.
Sustainable and
responsible budget management has been a hallmark of the WA Labor Government
and that will continue to be a key feature of the new Wages Policy.
Complementary to the new wages policy, the Cook Government will also
invest in boosting the capability of the WA public sector by developing a
focused training program tailored to the evolving needs of the sector.
To be led by the Public Sector Commission, this work will amount to the
biggest capability lift the public sector has ever had and help to ensure an integrated focus on training.
Under the policy, the Government
will negotiate Enterprise Agreements of up to three years in length.
The policy will apply to
negotiations for all Enterprise Agreements that expired on or after 1 October
2023.
The previous Public
Sector Wages Policy will continue to apply to industrial agreements that
expired before 1 October 2023.
Comments attributed to Premier Roger Cook:
"My
Government is committed to good-faith bargaining with public sector unions, and
the approach to future bargaining we are outlining today reflects this.
"The
new Wages Policy will provide flexibility in bargaining to address the
industrial issues most important to the State's public sector workforce.
"It
will deliver fair but financially sustainable wage increases and conditions of
employment, that are reasonable in the context of each negotiation.
"We
are keen to deliver fair wage outcomes and appropriate conditions to the
important workforces in our public sector, and have been able to back this up
with significant funding allocated to future negotiations, thanks to my
Government's ongoing responsible management of the State's finances."
Comments attributed to Treasurer Rita
Saffioti:
"Our
Government has valued the public sector and increased the size of the public
sector workforce since 2017, while also bringing privatised services back
to government.
"The
focus for us is delivering sustainable wage increases for our public sector
workforce.
"We're
very keen to ensure sustainable wage increases and conditions can be negotiated
in good faith through the bargaining process with public sector unions, and
this new policy allows for that.
"We're
in a position to do this because of our strong financial management, which has
long been a priority and hallmark of our Government.
"We
want to have the financial capacity to deliver fair wage increases, continue to
support the workforce with better conditions, while also ensuring our finances
stay strong so we don't put our State in the same position as others who are
cutting services and creating redundancies."
Comments attributed to Industrial Relations
Minister Simone McGurk:
"It
is important that public sector workers feel valued and appreciated in the many
roles they do around Western Australia.
"The
bargaining flexibility offered under the new Wages Policy will be critical
moving forward as we work to address the various issues and needs of individual
public sector workforces and their unions.
"We
continue to engage positively with all unions and work towards settlements of
outstanding negotiations."
