Role of Public Sector Unions

Application

This Policy applies to all departments and public sector bodies of the State of Victoria and their non-executive level employees, as defined under the Public Administration Act 2004 (Vic) (PA Act) and other Victorian legislation.

Overview

Structured and cooperative industrial relations are a hallmark of the Victorian public sector, and the Government recognises the important role of unions in representing the interests of employees. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that employers and their representatives across the Victorian public sector both comply with their legislative obligations and practically implement the Government’s commitment to harmonious industrial relations, facilitated by constructive, cooperative, and consultative relations between employers, eligible workers, and unions. Victorian public sector employers must ensure they acknowledge the right of unions to lawfully represent their members and encourage union membership among workers consistent with the obligations outlined in this policy.

Union participation in the workplace

The Government promotes a cooperative approach to workplace relations valuing collective bargaining and the rights of persons eligible to be members of an employee organisation (eligible workers) to have their interests supported through effective union representation.

Departments and agencies must ensure that their workplace practices are consistent with the following principles:

• organisations and employees and/or eligible workers are free to join an association or organisation
• employees are entitled to negotiate collectively
• organisations should not unreasonably hinder the lawful activities of unions
• unions have lawful access to the workplace when they provide requisite and reasonable notice and do not hinder normal operations
• unions have an opportunity to provide documentation to address or provide information to employees/eligible workers at induction about their right to choose whether they wish to join the union
• employees are entitled to take protected industrial action in accordance with the requirements of the FW Act
• workplace delegates have access to reasonable communication with members, and any other persons eligible to be such members, in relation to their industrial interests
• workplace delegates have reasonable access to information about the workplace/organisation/department
• workplace delegates have access to reasonable paid time during normal working hours to conduct union business
• workplace delegates have access to reasonable paid leave during normal work hours to attend union education; and
• workplace delegates have reasonable access to the workplace and facilities for conducting union business (e.g. facilities including but not limited to phone, facsimile, post, photocopying, internet e-mail, and online and offline meeting room facilities).

Union encouragement

The Victorian Government encourages union membership among employees in the Victorian public sector. Unions play an important role in representing employees in the workplace, and Victorian public sector enterprise agreements contain many provisions aimed at facilitating the role of unions and their representatives. To support this commitment all public sector employers must ensure that their work practices are consistent with the following principles. Employers will:

• acknowledge the legitimate role unions and their delegates play in representing eligible workers
• enable, where practicable, the reasonable and responsible performance of accredited workplace delegate activities
• ensure executives, managers and supervisors adopt a positive and supportive role, rather than merely tolerate membership recruitment and representative activity by unions
• ensure the personal views of executives, managers and supervisors are not used to discourage eligible workers from union membership
• ensure that employees are not unnecessarily hindered in the reasonable and responsible performance of the union activities in the workplace
• inform new employees of their right to join or not join a union. New employees are not obliged to join a union; however, the Government encourages employees to join and maintain financial membership of a union. Information (supplied by the relevant union) on relevant unions must be provided to new employees on engagement
• give union officials and/or workplace delegates the opportunity to discuss union membership with new employees during working hours (e.g., during orientation)
• facilitate reasonable access to eligible workers to discuss employment related matters, subject to relevant legislation and not unduly interfering with the operational requirements of the employer
• provide workplace delegates with access to reasonable facilities for the purpose of representing members in the workplace (provided the reasonable operational requirements of the employer are not unduly affected)
• provide for workplace delegates that are nominated on behalf of the union, to access up to five days’ paid leave, where reasonable (subject to operational requirements), to attend accredited union training courses which seek to promote more harmonious industrial relations or safe work practices, and
• establish joint union and employer consultative committees to discuss workplace matters.

Awareness of these principles along with the active cooperation of all managers and supervisors is necessary to ensure these principles are honoured. Passive acceptance by agencies of membership recruitment activity by unions is not sufficient. Encouragement requires all public sector entities to take a positive, supportive role, although ultimately it remains the responsibility of the unions themselves to conduct membership recruitment.

To support the implementation of these principles, all public sector agencies are required to include union encouragement and delegate rights clauses in their enterprise agreements. Attachment A provides a model union encouragement provision and Attachment B a model union delegates rights provision, both of which may be adopted wholesale or tailored to suit individual workplace contexts through the enterprise bargaining process.

Workplace Delegates

Amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) that took effect in December 2023 introduced new entitlements and protections for workplace delegates. A workplace delegate is a person, appointed or elected under the rules of an employee organisation, who represents members of that organisation in the workplace.

Following the FW Act amendments, from 1 July 2024, public sector employers must include a delegates’ rights term in their enterprise agreements that provides for the exercise of the following rights of workplace delegates:

• to represent the industrial interests of members and potential members of the employee organisation (including in disputes with their employer)
• to reasonable communication with members and potential members about their industrial interests
• reasonable access to the workplace and its facilities to represent those industrial interests, and
• reasonable access to paid time during normal working hours for the purposes of workplace delegate training.

Further, employers must not:

• unreasonably fail or refuse to deal with the workplace delegate, or
• knowingly or recklessly make a false or misleading representation to the workplace delegate, or
• unreasonably hinder, obstruct or prevent the exercise of the rights of the workplace delegate.

Attachment C provides a model workplace delegates clause for public sector agencies to include in their enterprise agreements to ensure compliance with the above requirements.

Further Information

For further information and advice employees and public sector union representatives should contact the local Human Resources or People and Culture Unit (or equivalent) of the relevant entity for further assistance in the first instance.

People and Culture Representatives of Public Sector Entities should contact their Portfolio Department for further assistance in the first instance.

People and Culture Representatives of Portfolio Departments should contact their usual IRV portfolio contact for further assistance in the first instance.

Related Policies or Documents

• Consultation and Cooperation in the workplace

Attachment A

Attachment B