CPSU negotiates a poor deal

By Dan Kelly In September, Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) members responded to inadequate staffing of Student Assistance Centres (SACs) around the country with restrictions on public contact hours and bans on processing Austudy eligibility checks. But they are know being asked by their union leadership to lift their bans for little in return. The settlement, recommended by CPSU negotiators and endorsed by the CPSU national executive and DEET (Department of Employment, Education and Training) national delegates committee, was not greeted with much enthusiasm at union meetings. The proposed settlement offers staff little relief from their highly stressful workload. All that has been recommended are funds for processing the eligibility check and "a commitment to enter into negotiations over a SAC log of claims". In return, all industrial action is to be lifted. A broader DEET settlement being negotiated could commit the union to making no further staff claims this financial year. While the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES) is being offered 200 extra staff in return for this commitment, SACs, Youth Access Centres and other DEET specialist services (such as Career Reference Centres and Aboriginal Education Units) will not be able to increase staff except at the expense of the still understaffed CES. This divide and rule proposal will allow DEET management to undermine united CPSU action. The work bans being applied in SACs do give staff some relief from the pressures and this has lowered stress levels and improved morale. The proposal that SAC workers drop these measures to settle the dispute, without being guaranteed significant increases in staffing, has gone down like a lead balloon.