Narrator:
It looks like any other staff meeting. But this gathering at a Sydney Water treatment plant reflects a revolution in industrial relations. The meeting is being jointly run by the Chief Executive of the business and the Secretary of the union which represents the staff.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
It’s a remarkable thing considering the past, because I don’t think that ever occurred before. But it’s something we’re doing more and more.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
There’s no way whatsoever that would have happened three years ago—no way. It would have been me addressing the members and they would have been passing resolutions probably condemning the Managing Director and probably in another few hours be out on strike.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
We’ve been rolling out a new strategy and structure discussions with the business and at each of those we’ve welcomed the union delegates to be there and people from the ASU.
Narrator:
This is a new way of operating for Sydney Water, which is Australia’s largest water utility. Just three years ago the organisation had a very different relationship with its workforce.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
It was war, what happened in the past was that we were making changes—it was announce and defend. It was—we would consult, but really we wouldn’t change our mind. It was described as that we were the circle of persistence ... seeing what we needed to do. And the unions were the circle of resistance. So they would slow us down as much as possible.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
We had been on strike probably four or five times, we were in the middle of a huge dispute, we were constantly before the Commission with disputes. I think we probably had about 12 running at that time. We had our own personal Commissioner I reckon. There was someone constantly on roster to deal with the disputes that would generate out of Sydney Water because the relationship was so bad.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
We were in the Fair Work Commission virtually every week and every issue we wanted to raise there was a stoush on and a dispute. And it was grinding the company back and we were facing real problems about our competitiveness in the market. I injected myself in the industrial relations. We were at war and there were signs on all trucks and a rolling series of strikes and I believed there was a better collaborative approach forward and so did Sally.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
Both myself and Kevin met and had a talk and said okay let’s give it a go—let’s give it a go at doing it differently. And so we both approached the Commission and asked them facilitate a process which we did go through and it took a year of good hard work to have a different relationship.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
With Deputy President Booth we got together and had a conversation and said there’s a leap of faith here but do you actually think we see a better way forward. And that’s what we did—and there was a lot of people said “this will never work”.
Narrator:
But it has worked. Peace has replaced war.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
We haven’t had one single dispute that we’ve had to notify to the Fair Work Commission—not one. And it’s now two and a half years and I think that’s a real achievement and it speaks for itself.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
From time to time we get into really difficult circumstances—there was one recently in IT that we had to deal with—and on occasions, it’s rare, we say to Deputy President Booth, “can you come in and just help facilitate a discussion between us?”
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
The way it works now it’s very different. Management will come to us with changes that they want to make and they’ll be open and honest about why they want to do it, what’s driving it, what they’re trying to achieve. And we’ll be open and honest about what our interests are and what we would like to see out of that.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
Very consultative, we’re very honest, it’s very transparent. If we’ve got major issues with any part of the business we sit down and we talk and we understand why we need to make some reform.
Narrator:
The Fair Work Commission was instrumental in bringing the parties together to forge the new relationship.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
The role of the Commissioner was absolutely essential to the changes. Deputy President Booth brought with her certain gravitas that couldn’t come from an independent facilitator so she brought all of all her skills to the table but not just that—she had the authority of being a Commissioner who was overseeing our relationships. It involved a lot of building of trust between us. It involved a lot of work by the Commission really for us to put aside—not ignore, but put aside—our previous grievances, in some circumstances would go back 50 years on both sides, to work from a position of okay, what do we agree on rather than what are we against.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
We agreed that we would have honest conversations with the different parts of the workforce. So in our civil area we went depot by depot and for the first time we said “Look, we’ve done benchmarking of how we’re going against what the typical costs are in the market and there’s a gap. And we want to tell you the absolute truth”. And this is not disputed—the unions agreed that there was a gap—and we said “Look, we’re not sure what the answers are but we want to work with you and we want to close this gap and I think a fair time would be three years”. And you can see the charts where we are two thirds of the way into the time frame—two years in—and we’ve got two-thirds of the savings we need and you can just see the change in the workforce. They’re actually very proud of the work that they’re doing and you can see morale improve.
Narrator:
One part of the process was a two day workshop convened by Deputy President Booth. Sydney Water management and the union came together to jointly discuss the challenges facing the business.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
We had to spend a whole day and a whole night and the whole next day together all facilitated by the Commission and they were really key turning points in the relationship.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
It was one of the honest two days that I’ve ever had.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
It was also good because our members and the managers—you know, we never really think about how the other side perceives us. And I think that was a bit of a shock for both of us.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
I think in the past the Fair Work Commission comes in when it’s the time of hopeless causes—when the parties are so far apart that you think “Gee, how are you going to solve this one?” and I know they do some magic there. But I do see the magic that they’re doing now is actually bringing the parties to prevent disputations. And boy in terms of safety, customer service, morale of people in the business it’s just a lot more powerful model.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
We basically now use the Commission as if I can call it like a guardian of the relationship. So we will touch base with the Commissioner now and again—you know, sometimes we’ll seek her opinion about how to go forward on issues.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
I think we will always want the Commission’s involvement at times of new EBAs, every three or four years, but I’m hoping that will be a light touch. I’m hoping that what we’re doing working with the Commission is that we’re learning more and more how to work these problems out ourselves. Staff told us that they want to work in a business that works as a team. And they wanted people to encourage one another to achieve their best. And they wanted to set goals and they wanted the business to be successful.
Sally McManus, Australian Services Union:
People don’t actually like going to work and fighting all the time—they don’t. And we knew it because, you know, you’re in touch with where your members are at, that they wanted to go to work and feel happy and proud about their job. They wanted to trust their managers actually and they do want to work on the common good for the people of Sydney.
Kevin Young, Sydney Water:
I’m proud of what the organisation has done. Because Sally and I kicked off a bit of a ‘dream of the future’ but it wouldn’t have been anything without both sides knuckling in and saying “Look, we’ll make it a reality”. And in the beginning, people as I said, said “This will never work”, but it has worked and it’s been highly successful—it’s been one of the greatest things I think we’ve done as a business.