By Jim McIlroy
BRISBANE — Service delays and staffing shortages have increased in Centrelink offices as the Howard government refuses to retreat on the 5000 job cuts it has imposed on the "social security" agency.
Centrelink printing operations are being taken over by contractors, and on January 28 it was announced that many of the 85 new Centrelink outlets in rural and regional centres will be operated by private companies.
Pressure is mounting within the ranks of the Community and Public Sector Union in Centrelink for a relaunch of the union's industrial campaign against the job cuts and for a new agency agreement.
Anger has increased following the federal government's offer of pay rises of up to 20% to senior public servants, with performance bonuses of a further 15%, while Centrelink management has offered its staff a miserable 2.5% over two years, conditional on productivity increases.
On January 21, the Centrelink CPSU section council endorsed a motion that calls for the Centrelink board and the federal government to provide an immediate guarantee that the jobs cuts will cease immediately. If a satisfactory reply is not given, the union will propose a national day of action, including a 24-hour stoppage by Centrelink members and lunchtime rallies.
The resolution called for a campaign that involves CPSU members throughout the public sector and for the ACTU to build support for the rallies among affiliates.
Centrelink recently failed in an attempt to sideline the CPSU by establishing an alternative "staff representative structure". The union intervened in the elections and union-endorsed candidates won the bulk of staff representative positions.
A tripartite agreement conference to be held in Canberra from February 1 will now have only a "consultative" role, further negotiations with the CPSU beginning immediately afterwards.
However, Centrelink management's ploy has achieved the aim of halting the union's industrial campaign against the job cuts and over the new agreement, at least temporarily.
So far, the government and Centrelink have given no signs of backing down on the mass redundancies. There is a strong feeling among union members that it is high time the industrial campaign was relaunched.
[Jim McIlroy is a CPSU workplace delegate at the Centrelink Brisbane Call Centre.]