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Reinforcing managerial prerogative in the Australian Public Service during the COVID-19 pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Cameron Roles ,
Sukanya Ananth  and
Michael O’Donnell
Cameron Roles*
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Sukanya Ananth
Affiliation:
Industrial Officer, Australian Workers Union, Australia
Michael O’Donnell
Affiliation:
The University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia
*
Cameron Roles, College of Law, Australian National University, Fellows Road, Acton, Canberra 2601, ACT, Australia. Email: cameron.roles@anu.edu.au
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Abstract

Over several decades Liberal-National Governments have encouraged Australian Public Service (APS) employers to uphold managerial prerogative by offering individual employment arrangements to employees. During the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Morrison Liberal-National Government’s Workplace Bargaining Policy reinforced this agenda. In place of collective bargaining, APS agency heads were encouraged to determine pay rises and new employment conditions for employees using Section 24 of the Public Service Act (PS Act) 1999. Workplace determinations did not need to be negotiated with public sector unions and some 85,500 employees across 57 APS agencies, or approximately 63% of the APS workforce, had accepted pay increases via workplace determinations by 31 December 2020. The widespread adoption of workplace determinations in the APS poses significant challenges for public sector unions and for the future of APS collective bargaining.

Keywords

Individualisationmanagerial prerogativeworkplace determinationscollective bargainingpublic sector unionsJ21J45J53K31
Type
Themed collection: Public sector employment relations in turbulent times
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 18 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2022

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