By Nick Everett

Members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) in the federal government's agency Centrelink served a log of claims on their employer on August 14. Ninety-seven per cent of CPSU members in the agency voted in support of the claims.

The CPSU is preparing to renegotiate a certified agreement in Centrelink at a time when management is seeking to further erode hard-won public service conditions.

Since the launch of Centrelink in July last year, which replaced the service delivery functions of the Department of Social Security and Department of Employment, Education and Training, the government has cut jobs, increased opening hours in the call centres and forced offices to open on public holidays.

In negotiations, management is expected to push for even longer opening hours, abolishing overtime rates of pay, removing the public service holiday and replacing permanency with fixed-term contracts.

Centrelink is likely to also push for the outsourcing of personnel, pay processing and call centre operations, and a new classification structure based on a system of performance-based pay.

These moves are part of the Coalition government's strategy to wind back conditions following the stripping of the Australian Public Service awards to 20 allowable matters, as dictated by the Workplace Relations Act.

Centrelink has refused to set a date for negotiations with the CPSU and has not made public its negotiating position. With a federal election likely soon, management may stall negotiations.

Regardless of the election outcome, CPSU members in Centrelink face a major industrial challenge to maintain their conditions of employment. Whether the national leaders of the CPSU are prepared to initiate such a campaign remains to be seen.

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