On the subject of amending the act, I would like to point out that, were it possible to negotiate staffing and recourse, we would at least be able to sit at the table to raise matters of concern and express the viewpoint of members of the institute. At the moment, no such dialogue occurs. Consultation amounts to sending us a piece of paper, but at the end of the day, the issues are not up for negotiation, and those people do exactly as they please.
We have a specific, more technical recommendation relating to what I call “The grandfather clause”. In 1999, it was formerly recognized that all employees had the necessary skills to do their job. However, the skills profile pertaining to their position was not recognized. If, in 1999 the agency had recognized it, we would not be in this mess. Now, employees are having to again prove that they are qualified for their own job.
With a grandfather clause, the agency would be able to recognize that an employee satisfied the skills profile of his or her job. If somebody wished to seek a promotion, it would be a matter of assessing whether he or she had the relevant skills for the job in question. We made this recommendation in 1999, and have probably repeated it a dozen times a year since then. However, we have no such powers thus far. If the act were amended to allow staffing to be negotiated, we would be able to make headway on such matters and submit allegations.
At the moment, we have no power on matters relating to staffing and recourse decisions. Even managers agree with us that, in the majority of cases, the unwieldy nature of the process prevents them from appointing the best possible candidate. If we were granted certain rights, we would be able to sit at the negotiation table and be heard. I believe that we would be able to suggest constructive measures to fix the current chaos.