BY BRONWEN BEECHEY
ADELAIDE — South Australian TAB workers took industrial action for the first time on October 14, shutting down all TAB outlets and phone betting, and picketing the board's headquarters to oppose a government plan to sell the agency.
The workers, members of the SA Public Service Association and the Australian Services Union, want a guarantee that, if they are not given jobs by a private owner or do not want to work there, they will be redeployed to other sectors of the public service.
The state government has offered them redundancy packages, but they are considerably less generous than those offered to other public service employees.
PSA general secretary Jan McMahon told Green Left Weekly that she believes the paucity of the offer may be because the majority of TAB employees are women employed on a part-time or casual basis. "The strike action has shown that this is not the powerless group that the government thought it was dealing with", McMahon said.
The TAB workers met on October 20 to consider a revised offer from the state government, which improves the entitlements offered but still does not address job security.
Staff agreed that, in the light of the improved offer and as a gesture of goodwill to the public, they would not strike on October 21, Caulfield Cup Day. However, they did not rule out strikes affecting other spring racing carnival events, including the Melbourne Cup.
McMahon said there was a lot of support from the community. "Regular TAB customers have a close relationship with the staff there, and don't want to see them lose their jobs. Besides, most of them are working people facing the same problems and they understand why it's important for the staff to take action."