Employment conditions are secret, apparently

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:

From: Tim Clynch [mailto:tClynch@bridgetown.wa.gov.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 11 March 2015 2:26 PM
To: Michael Southwell (southy@iinet.net.au)
Subject: Request for Information

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.