21^st April.

Developing CANZ/PS Relationship

Last week in the Negotiation Update, CANZ noted that the National Officers were meeting with the CEO Barry Matthews, General Manager Harry Hawthorn, and General Manager Organisational Development Vince Arbuckle, also present were Manager Human Resources Michelle Kortegast and Manager Employee Relations Chris Wells.

The main thrust of this meeting was to establish if CANZ & PS could develop a mutually acceptable way forward, and to over come any division that may have been starting to grow between CANZ and the Department.

We are pleased to report that this meeting was very productive.

We had a very open and frank discussion on issues that were of concern to both parties and the venue and tone of the meeting created an atmosphere that allowed both parties to really listen to each other.

It is really important to be able to have these discussions and clear up any perceived issues so we don’t waste our time and resources on dealing with misunderstandings but get down to discuss actual issues not opinions or personalities, as both parties need to move forward constructively with the best interests of staff foremost in our minds.

Although we cannot say that both parties are completely on the same sheet the openness of the discussion gave both parties a complete understanding of the actions or issues that hinder progress through to how a process could be created/developed to achieve the ultimate goal of establishing a collaborative working relationship.

We do have an undertaking to continue with talks to achieve a better working relationship rather than being adversaries all the time.

There are more meetings scheduled to occur, but the first was very promising and bodes well for our future dealings.

CANZ National Officers

B Hanlon W Cochrane B Noakes E Brooking