Agency bargaining scrapes through
By Phil Shannon
CANBERRA — An agency bargaining agreement has been narrowly accepted by members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) in the federal Department of Human Services and Health. With a few votes still to be counted, the national vote was about 550-430 in favour.
In the ACT, union members voted more than three to one (309 to 101) to reject the 2.5% wage rise because it would be funded by job cuts and result in increased workloads. Queensland split evenly. In these two areas, there was an active group of members who distributed information on the negative elements of the deal.
CPSU national delegates committee representatives in NSW, Victoria and WA decided to censor the ACT's "No" case and to prevent circulation of information that might "undermine the agreement" and to allow voting by electronic mail. Members in these states voted 300 to 20 in favour of the agreement.