BY JIM MCILROY
BRISBANE — Community and Public Sector Union members in Centrelink offices and call centres around the country met during the week of March 19-23 to vote on a resolution from their union to launch a "community based campaign" to "keep Centrelink services and jobs public."
The meetings were held in preparation for the federal government's upcoming budget plans on "welfare reform", following the tabling of the McClure report in federal parliament recently.
The CPSU resolution called on the government to:
"Ensure Centrelink has the resources to carry out its functions and deliver services to all Australians, regardless of where they live;
"Ensure that government, through a publicly owned Centrelink, remains responsible for the administration of all income support payments; and
"Allow Centrelink workers to make decisions based on the circumstances of individual jobseekers in a open and transparent environment."
At lunchtime meetings held at the Brisbane Centrelink call centre, an additional motion was carried, noting "with great concern the loss of hundreds of staff from the call centre network since June last year, on top of the 5000 jobs lost overall from Centrelink in the past three years, particularly in light of the increasing workload from rising unemployment, the Getting it Right [quality assurance] policy and other factors.
"We note that moves to recruit new staff to call centres will not fully replace lost staff, let alone increase the staff total nationally to the level required to handle the call load.
"We call on the CPSU Section executive/council to launch a campaign to demand more staff [throughout the network] to match the increasing workload in all areas. This campaign should involve all areas of activity, from publicity both within and outside Centrelink, to meetings, stopworks and other industrial action, as required to achieve our aims."
[Jim McIlroy is a CPSU delegate at Centrelink's Brisbane call centre.]