I recently rang the Council and asked to see a copy of its Collective Employee Agreement.
Many other WA Councils make their employment agreements available on the via their websites. Not ours -- far from it -- as you will see from this email exchange:
Hi Michael
Emily from the front counter has referred to me your request
for a copy of the Shire’s collective employee agreement.
Please note the Shire currently has a collective employee
agreement for the outside works staff and an enterprise bargaining agreement
for inside staff.
With regard to your request for copies of either one or both
of these agreements I have referred to Section 5.94 of the Local Government
Act.
An employee collective agreement is not a document defined
under Section 5.94 as being available for inspection by the public.
Therefore there is no automatic right to access that information.
Both agreements were considered by Council at its June 2013
meeting as confidential items “behind closed doors”. Therefore the
contents of each Agreement are considered confidential and are not available
for inspection by members of the public.
Based on the above I am not able to provide you with a copy
of either one or both of the agreements.
If you are dissatisfied with my decision you are able to
request consideration under Freedom of Information legislation.
Application forms can be obtained from the Shire’s Records officer Eileen
Kneale. Under the FOI legislation if your FOI application is declined by
the Shire appeal rights would be available to you.
Regards
Tim
Clynch
Chief Executive Officer
Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes
From: Michael Southwell [mailto:southy@iinet.net.au]
Sent: Thursday, 12 March 2015 11:09 AM
To: Tim Clynch
Subject: RE: Request for Information
Hi Tim,
In arriving at your decision to
keep this document secret, did you consider Council’s stated Values, which
include being “open and accountable”?
The fact that the document was
considered as a confidential item at Council does not support your argument
that it is secret, given that the decision to consider it behind closed doors
would have occurred at your suggestion.
Similar documents are publicly
available at other Councils. Perhaps you should check with the Department
on whether the document should be publicly available, as you have on other
issues.
I should not be made to go
through the time and expense of an FOI request, when there is no good reason to
keep the document secret.
Regards,
Michael
Hi Michael
Once an item is accepted by Council as confidential under
Council’s Standing Orders I am not permitted to release the information to the
public.
Section 5.94 of the Local Government Act lists the local
government information available for public inspection. An employee
collective agreement or similar is not identified as a document freely
available for inspection.
Prior to making my decision I did consult with the
Department of Local Government and Communities and their advice was that the
document was not of a type that would normally be freely available to the
public but at the end of the day the decision to release it rested with the
CEO. As stated previously, as the matter was considered by Council behind
closed doors I am not authorised to release it for public inspection.
The Local Government Act identifies the types of matters
that can be considered by a council behind closed doors, one of which is “a
matter affecting an employee or employees”. An employee collective
agreement or EBA is such a document.
I am happy to stand by Council’s values of being open and
accountable but I also am obliged to work within the requirements of the Local
Government Act, other legislation, Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes Local laws
and Council Policies.
Regards
Tim
Clynch
Chief Executive Officer
Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes
So some of the people in Bridgetown (councillors, council employees, and presumably their families) are allowed to have this information about employment conditions at the Shire and others (ratepayers) are not.
I must go to the time, trouble and expense of an FOI request to see this innocuous document.
I will be entitled to the document under FOI, and unless Mr Clynch is completely ignorant about the FOI Act, he knows that.
The only material exempt under the Act is that which reveals personal information, might harm the State's economic interests, is commercially confidential, is protected by legal privilege, may interfere with law enforcement or jeopardise national security.
The CEO is simply playing a game. The object of the game is to discourage people from scrutinising Council activities.
