The labour-management relationship in the public service will benefit significantly from more dialogue, and less
confrontation, between the parties. The measures being taken to address this issue are to improve labour-management
consultation at the departmental level and enable co-development of workplace improvements.
Background
In its first report (2000), the Fryer Committee indicated the need for a more constructive labour-management
relationship in order to build a public service capable of meeting the challenges of the future. One of the key
recommendations of its second report (2001) was for the Public Service Staff Relations Act to be amended to
provide for consultation and co-development of policies at the service-wide, departmental and workplace levels.
Co-development was described as the joint identification of problems and the analysis and development of solutions by
labour and management. The Fryer Committee recommended that the details of how consultation and co-development would be
implemented be left to the parties to develop.
The Public Service Modernization Act
There can be no doubt that the labour-management relationship will be improved by long-term cultural change,
brought about by the two parties working together to foster a healthy and productive work place and resolve conflicts
at the earliest stages possible. The need for improved cooperation through consultation and co-development is
recognized in the Public Service Labour Relations Act, being Part 1 of the Public Service Modernization
Act:
- in its preamble, it recognizes that effective labour-management relations represent a cornerstone of good human
resource management and that collaborative efforts between the parties, through communication and sustained dialogue,
improve the ability of the public service to serve and protect the public interest
- it requires that departments and public service agencies, in consultation with bargaining agents, establish a
consultation committee consisting of departmental/agency representatives and bargaining agent representatives, for the
purpose of exchanging information and obtaining views and advice on workplace issues
- it enables the employer and bargaining agent, or a Deputy Head and bargaining agent, to engage in co-development of workplace improvements, defined as "the consultation between the parties on workplace issues and their participation in the identification of workplace problems and the development and analysis of solutions to those problems with a view to adopting mutually agreed to solutions."
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