Statement from Tweed Shire Council General Manager, Troy Green

23 December 2017

Re DEPA allegations (Tweed Daily News, 23 December 2017)

Council strongly denies the allegations raised by Ian Robertson of DEPA with a representation of 22 members of our 700 strong workforce. Whilst it is true that the Building & Environmental Health Unit has had some challenging issues over the last couple of years, it is a gross oversimplification and misrepresentation of the facts to attribute these to a single cause.

With the assistance of external consultants and the good will and hard work of the manager and team members these issues have been largely resolved with the team moving forward strongly.

Building and Environmental Health has a team of approximately 37 staff including building surveyors, environmental health officers and administrative support staff. Although a number of staff have brought issues to management’s attention, the number is nowhere near the number claimed by DEPA. Council has invested in its staff and particular this team to support long term cultural change to modernise the workforce to make best use of rate payer dollars to deliver the services in a way the community expects. This takes time and care to consider all views and implement appropriate actions and it is acknowledged that some staff struggle more than others with change.

What Ian Robertson fails to mention is that whilst Council has an accepted workers compensation claim, the allegations of bullying and harassment were not substantiated under independent investigation.

Despite the issues experienced by the team, Building and Environmental Health:

  • has received the highest number of internal staff Productivity and Service Awards of any team within the organisation in both 2016 and 2017:
  • the mosquito incursion project initiated by the Unit is building regional capacity and according to NSW Health is the most significant regional Environmental Health Officer collaboration ever;
  • the Unit’s responsiveness in the flood was highly valued both in terms of inspecting damaged houses and assisting impacted businesses;
  • process improvements have resulted in the number of inspections undertaken increasing from 450 to 1400 per year, achieving a 6 year inspection cycle for the first time;
  • the Tanglewood Sewerage Treatment Plant which has been an intractable issue for over 10 years looks like being resolved early in the New Year
These are not the achievements of a dysfunctional, bullied team.

In fact support for the Manager in question has also been forthcoming from his staff which are reflected in the following quotes received since the release of this article. (Nb staff are happy to have these public):

  • I don’t agree with DEPA’s one sided approach.
  • The DEPA newsletter made my blood boil. The Admin Unit is going really well and we are very uncomfortable with these untrue comments about how DEPA think we are going.
  • A mate emailed me and said I just read the DEPA newsletter. You said it was a great workplace in the Building Team, what’s going on. I told him it is all rubbish it is a great team you would love it here.
  • Text received by Manager: “I don’t know if you have the DEPA write up about our unit and you. I just wanted to say that you have been nothing but a great manager to me and there are staff backing you all the way”.
  • Text received by Manager: “The write up is spiteful and mean and no one should have to face that kind of rubbish without knowing they have support. One block at a time made the pyramids, so too our unit.”
  • You may be aware that there is a DEPA email circulating that contains untruths and is nasty, offensive and defamatory to the Tweed Shire Council Leadership Team.
  • I am extremely disappointed that the union has decided to only reflect the view of the minority. I am proud to work for Tweed Shire Council and feel this does not reflect the culture of the Building and Environmental Health Unit. I am not alone with this opinion.
  • The article identifies particular people who may or may not have complained to DEPA. They may have only made an enquiry and have moved on. This is really unfair and DEPA have breached confidentiality big time.
  • Over the last 12 months many BEH staff have called and emailed DEPA to advise that they are not reflecting the view of the whole team. This article has not included any of these, which is the majority view.
Safety (which includes health and wellbeing) is and always has been a fundamental core value and priority for Tweed Shire Council. We have been identified as a leader in the safety field, reflected in our reductions in Lost Time Injuries and Insurance Premiums.

Council’s reputation and performance in relation to work health and safety speaks for itself. The 2016/17 Workers Compensation/ WHS Report released this month by State Cover show that Tweed Shire Council’s Average Premium Impacting Cost sits at 55% below the State Cover Average which is an excellent result.

In 2013 StateCover purchased a component of Council’s Safety Management System as a resource for all councils within NSW. In 2014 Council was the inaugural winner of the NSW Business Chamber Northern Rivers Region Awards and a finalist in the State Awards.

I would like to stress that Council has enjoyed excellent relationships with the other two unions representing Council employees being the United Services Union (USU) and Local Government Engineers Association and their respective officials. These two unions represent 464 and 20 of Tweed Shire Council employees respectively, as opposed to DEPA’s membership of 22 prior to the issue of the DEPA newsletter. By way of example the day prior to the release of Mr Robertson’s newsletter, I received an unsolicited email from the State President of the USU, who is also a Tweed Shire Council employee representing 30,000 local government members across the state. It reads “Troy, I applaud the decision (changes to Sick or injured when on leave Protocol Provisions) and the reasoning that it was based on. Tweed staff are fortunate to have management that see the big picture and focus on the wellbeing of their staff. Cheers. S.Birney USU President.” (NB Mr Birney has agreed to me making this comment public).

It is my belief that Trade Unions play a very important and vital role to a happy and productive work place. However in my 25 years in working with Union Officials, never have I experienced an Official like Mr Robertson. The fact that Mr Robertson has elected not to follow due Industrial process but rather to air in a public forum his wish for a scalp is to the detriment and well-being of his whole membership. It is also speaks to the lack of strength of his case. The fact that following his newsletter this week I was advised by some of his members that they will be reconsidering membership of his union and I understand one has already resigned his membership and joined the USU speaks to his selective representation of members.

Mr Robertson is out of step with other Unions who seek to represent all of their members and his intimidating manner and the language he uses when communicating with management is out of step not only with other union officials but with community standards, especially as to the service level that they expect from staff employed to serve them. His DEPA newsletter which annually at Christmas time seeks to character assassinate individuals at a Council of his choice, as some type of Christmas cheer, speaks more to his character and values than management’s actions in relation to this staffing matter.

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