[LINK] Award based on ACS membership eligibility

[Roger Clarke]

[Declaration:  I've been a member of the Aust Computer Society since 
1974, and was involved in multiple Committees and Council years ago, 
although not recently.  Achieving recognition by employers that IT 
has to be handled professionally has been an ongoing struggle, so I 
was quite surprised to see this announcement, which to me came out of 
the blue yesterday.]


Award based on ACS membership eligibility
http://www.acs.org.au/enews/ceo/index.htm#6


The role of the ACS as the professional association for those working 
in ICT has been firmly cemented with the release of the Federal 
Government's 
<http://www.fwa.gov.au/documents/modern_awards/word/MA000065.doc>new 
Professional Employees Award 2010.

Part of the Fair Work Australia Act, which replaced Work Choice, the 
new award contains an information technology and telecommunications 
services stream which set eligibility for ACS membership or 
completion of an ACS-accredited degree as the standard for a 
professional ICT employee.

[Note that, correctly, you don't have to be a Member.  You have to be 
qualified to be a Member.  (It would be nice for a professional 
association to get an assured stream of membership applications;  but 
the hard fact is that associations have to work hard and *attract* 
Members).]

The new award has very positive implications for the ICT profession 
and for ACS members in particular.

This means ACS membership is the clear standard for defining and 
recognising ICT professionals, making our members more desirable in 
the eye of employers. It also elevates the status of the ACS 
Certified Professional (CP) as the higher standard for ICT 
practitioners.

More 
<http://www.fwa.gov.au/documents/modern_awards/word/MA000065.doc>information 
on the award is downloadable here as a word document.


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University