Jim McIlroy
Members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) employed by Centrelink, the federal government's main social security agency, have voted at workplace meetings around the country to reject management's offer on a new industrial agreement. The CPSU members have endorsed "the initiation of a formal bargaining period with Centrelink, noting this would allow us to take protected industrial action from October 1".
The meetings, held in mid-September, also endorsed "holding a round of rolling stop-work meetings from October 3 onwards. Each area would stop work on a different day with all call centres stopping work on the same day. The stop-work meetings will vote on what further action should be taken to pressure management for a fair agreement."
In a recent bulletin to Centrelink staff, the CPSU explained: "Centrelink's current draft agreement is unacceptable. Conditions are missing, wages are too low and management want to sideline our union. We want respect for our conditions: respect, through a fair wage increase; respect for our union involvement."
As a result of strong pressure from staff, Centrelink is proposing to move closer to the union demand for a wage settlement at least similar to the 12.5% over three years offered in the last agreement.
The CPSU is also calling for a fairer deal on working conditions, with hours of work, scheduling of staff, redundancy provisions, personal leave, allowances and other conditions guaranteed in the agreement, and not relegated to the legally unenforceable area of "policy".
The bulletin also demands that Centrelink management "allow for fair participation in our union. This includes guaranteeing our union can negotiate the next agreement, proper consultation, the ability for our delegates to represent members and choice of the Certified Agreement for all staff if offered an AWA [Australian Workplace Agreement, an individual contract]."
The danger of widespread AWAs being forced on staff is now very real, with graduate recruits at the head-office level being obliged to accept individual contracts already, and preparations being made for the option in a more generalised way.
If Centrelink management continues to refuse an improved offer on key conditions, a significant industrial campaign is looming.
[Jim McIlroy is a CPSU delegate at a Centrelink call centre.]
From Green Left Weekly, September 28, 2005.
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