ATO agency deal accepted

By Chris Slee Tax Office workers have voted to accept a new agency agreement, replacing the 1990 Modernisation Agreement and the 1994 Agency Agreement. Community and Public Sector Union officials admitted that the new agreement is not a good one, but said that it was the best they could get. They claimed it was essential to have a certified agreement in place before the federal elections, because without it workers might be at the mercy of a Liberal government. Opponents argued that clauses supposedly protecting workers are ineffectual and full of loopholes. By signing, the union has endorsed management's agenda. The new agreement explicitly accepts compulsory redundancies "as a last resort", forced transfer of workers between offices and electronic monitoring of individual workers, all of which the union has opposed and which were banned under the Modernisation Agreement. The new deal also explicitly endorses the contracting out of functions where tax office workers fail to match "industry best practice". It eliminates the (already weak) protection against "unfair comparisons". The motion to accept the new agreement gained a 69% majority nationwide, but was defeated in six offices. In Melbourne's Casselden Place office, it was defeated by a margin of 315 to 12. An alternative then moved from the floor was carried almost unanimously. It called for rejection of the new agreement, allowing the 1994 agreement to be rolled into the award structure. It also called on the CPSU to launch a campaign on of job security and funding, so as to create a better climate for negotiating a more favourable agreement at some time in the future.