Staff at a government department staff have expressed outrage after an achievement listed by bosses during a management course made to feel ‘betrayed’ .
Senior managers from South Australia’s Department for Correctional Services (DCS) attended a recent forum to discuss current issues and future opportunities.
The first activity at the forum was ‘Leading Your Team in 2024’, where senior managers wrote down ‘an achievement’, ‘a challenge’ and ‘a future opportunity’ on Post-it notes, which were then stuck on a whiteboard.
One of the ‘achievements’ listed was ‘keeping staff on relatively low incomes in face of inflation’ as well as ‘resilience’.
A Correctional Services employee who struggled to make ends meet was horrified to learn of the DCS ‘achievement’.
‘After finding out the achievement of DCS was to keep wages low, I felt betrayed and devalued as an employee,’ the unnamed employee told the Adelaide Advertiser.
‘I am even more convinced that DCS does not have my best interests at heart.’
The worker struggles to pay basic living expenses if they don’t work overtime.
Department for Correctional Services senior managers had to write ‘an achievement’ on Post-it-notes attached to a white board. One of the ‘achievements’ sparked outrage
A Correctional Services worker said they were totally disheartened by the DCS ‘achievement’ of stagnant wages
‘If I worked 9-5, that would become impossible,’ they said.
‘The downside to all that overtime is that it takes it out of me physically.’
‘It’s like having two jobs,’
The union boss said the incident highlighted the urgent need for a pay rise for DCS workers to bring them in line with the cost of living.
‘The fact that DCS managers have apparently boasted about keeping incomes low as an achievement is highly degrading and insensitive,’ Public Service Association general secretary Natasha Brown said.
Public Service Association general secretary Natasha Brown (pictured) said a new enterprise agreement was being negotiated, but slammed the government’s initial proposed increase as ‘insulting and disgraceful’
Ms Brown added it is also symptomatic of the government’s approach, ‘which is to keep public service wages suppressed,’ she said.
‘The disparity between public and private sector wages, and the fact that our hardworking public sector workers are struggling to pay their household bills, is completely unacceptable,’ she said.
Ms Brown said a new enterprise agreement was being negotiated, but slammed the government’s initial proposed increase as ‘insulting and disgraceful’.
The increase was ‘up to’ three per cent per annum, with the first increase due in August 2025.
A department spokesperson said in a statement, ‘DCS values the work and input of all its staff across its sites statewide’.
‘For this reason the forum was attended by both corporate and operational employees,’ the spokesperson said.
‘Staff salaries are determined by the SA Public Sector Enterprise Agreement and not the department.’
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