Your union was back at the table on 18 June, and the session covered some of the most significant claims in this bargain. Pay parity, allowances, and workload management all got serious airtime.
Here’s what you need to know.
Together pushed for a dedicated SBU session to work through the workload management framework in detail, and all parties agreed to schedule one. Your union also proposed that any agreement include an overall commitment in the certified agreement, with an exchange of letters setting out specific responsibilities and timelines for each department separately. That matters because DFSDSCS and DYJVS are at different stages, and your union does not want one department’s delays dragging the other’s.
Your union was clear about what workers need: scope and principles defined through bargaining, not handed down later by management. This framework is the vehicle for resolving caseload, staffing ratios, and resourcing claims across both Child Safety and Youth Justice. It needs teeth.
This was the most important discussion of the day.
Both unions set out the specific roles where pay parity is being sought:
Together made the case directly to the departments. DYJVS is losing workers to Child Safety and other organisations because the pay is better.
Your union also went further. Together raised pay parity issues across DFSDSCS: OCFOS lawyers paid below DJAG and Legal Aid equivalents, Specialist Services and Principal Clinician roles that should be on the HP stream like their equivalents in Health and Education, and Business Services Officers at AO5, while Education equivalents sit at AO6.
Your union told the departments they need to heed the call about being an employer of choice. The evidence is there. Your union expects a serious response.
DYJVS acknowledged the arguments are valid but pointed to the Public Sector Wages Policy as a constraint. Both departments said they need more time to take this to senior management.
Together pushed for the continuance allowance to be extended to all roles in DFSDSCS and DYJVS. Your unions shared the example of court coordinators in DYJVS and SCAN/Adoptions in DFSDSCS. Your union also referenced the Commission of Inquiry’s own findings on retention rates.
Together is adding a new claim to the log, seeking to increase the night shift allowance from 15% to 20% for the small cohort of workers doing night shift, in line with increases already flowing to other departments.
The departments flagged that they want an in-principle agreement across all claims by the end of August. Both departments also acknowledged that they need to take the pay parity and allowance discussions to senior management before they can respond.