Tax workers reject pay offer
MELBOURNE — Community and Public Sector Union members in the Australian Taxation Office have rejected, by an 88% margin, a management pay offer. The offer included a pay rise of 4% per year, conditional on achieving a large number of performance targets for revenue collection, service standards, "professionalism" (as measured by surveys of taxpayers) and successful implementation of the GST.
The CPSU's tax section council recommended that members reject the offer because, even if all targets are met (which is unlikely), the offer fails to guarantee real wage increases given the likely rate of inflation and increased interest rates. The union will hold stop-work meetings on May 4 to consider proposals for action in support of a better agreement.
East Timor activists charged with arson
MELBOURNE — Five Melbourne University students active in East Timor solidarity campaigning have been charged with arson for allegedly burning the Indonesian consulate's flag during a protest outside the consulate on September 2. Fifty Melbourne University students participated in the demonstration against the post-ballot carnage that was then beginning in East Timor.
The charges were laid by Protective Security Intelligence Group officers. The PSI is Victoria's political police, formerly known as Special Branch.
The five accused, activists in University Students for East Timor and Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, are to appear in the Melbourne Magistrate's Court on June 7.