BY MELANIE SJOBERG
SYDNEY — An early morning protest outside the NSW Department of Housing's Liverpool head office on July 30 turned into a 24-hour stop-work, as some 300 workers expressed their disgust with a management proclamation that they shift their jobs from Liverpool to Ashfield.
The relocation is part of widespread reorganisation that will combine some housing department administration with that of the Department of Community Services and the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care.
In June, the Public Service Association attempted to obtain details from housing department management about the numbers and positions affected by the restructure. Unhappy with the lack of consultation, the PSA conducted its own survey, which indicated that more than 60% of workers would be affected by additional travel time and costs and there would be a serious impact on families' care needs.
A July 12 meeting of the PSA Delegates Committee demanded that the department review the decision to restructure, and consider a package of conditions that would alleviate the hardship. The PSA demands included a transfer list so workers had an option of not moving, as well as childcare provisions and parking if any new location was to proceed.
The July 30 action finally forced the department into conceding the establishment of a transfer register, priority internal advertising and job-search support for workers to find alternatives within the public sector as well as support with child-care and aged-care services and counselling.
From Green Left Weekly, August 7, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.