What do we do

The Public Service Association of NSW is a union which represents New South Wales Government, NSW university and related private sector employees. The union is registered under New South Wales state legislation.

The members of the PSA are also members of the Community and Public Sector Union, which is a national union registered under Commonwealth legislation. See entry on Community and Public Sector Union in this home page.

The PSA represents members on all aspects of their working life and provides some value-added services on top of this. Members are represented collectively and individually.

Examples of issues dealt with are:

• pay claims - negotiating with employers and arguing case in the Industrial Relations Tribunals;
• conditions of work - hours of work, travelling allowances, leave etc.;
• rights of temporary, part-time staff as well as permanent members;
• appeal rights in the case of promotions and disciplinary matters;
• safety and occupational health (including prosecutions);
• workers compensation;
• anti-discrimination matters in relation to sex, race, religion;
• staffing issues, ie understaffing and overwork;
• classification and grading of staff;
• organisation restructures and productivity gains.

Delegates often represent members in the smaller cases or initially in cases which are later taken up by paid staff.

In a recent year cases taken to the Industrial Relations Commission were:

During this period staff also:

• negotiated 20 enterprise agreements;
• held 15,000 meetings with individual members and their bosses;
• made or received 520,000 telephone calls;
• attended 500 delegates meetings;
• attended 7,000 on the job meetings of members;
• recruited thousands of new members.