Tax office pay dispute

Tax office pay dispute

BY CHRIS SLEE

The tax section council of the Community and Public Sector Union has recommended that CPSU members in the Australian Tax Office reject management's draft agency agreement.

Management is offering a 4% a year pay rise over two years, conditional on meeting a range of targets for revenue collection, "professionalism" (as measured by surveys of taxpayers), successful implementation of "tax reform" and service standards.

The CPSU has pointed out that the annual inflation rate is likely to exceed 4% because of the impact of the GST. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that workers will get the 4% a year rise because it will be hard to meet the targets, given the problems associated with the GST and the disruption to work as many staff move to jobs in the GST area.

Membership meetings will be held in all tax offices and a ballot conducted to determine the union's position. If members vote to support the section council's motion, management will be given a deadline of April 26 to make a better offer. If management fails to respond, stop-work meetings will be held to decide on an industrial campaign.

From GLW issue 402