By Chris Slee and Stan Thompson
Managers in the Individual Non-Business Taxes (INB) section of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have announced that they will not go ahead with plans for compulsory redundancies.
The plans have been hanging over the heads of base grade INB staff for nearly 12 months. Initially, 50 sackings were threatened. The tax section of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) held three part-day strikes over the dispute, which then went before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
At a series of AIRC hearings in November and December, management was directed to delay announcing the names of workers to be declared "excess", and to make more efforts to find workers in other parts of the tax office and the commonwealth public service who wanted voluntary redundancy and were willing to swap with those targeted for sacking.
Management was very reluctant to accept the AIRC's decisions and at the hearings disparaged staff members and said they were not wanted on staff. Nevertheless, when the number of potentially "excess" staff was reduced to three, management decided that proceeding with compulsory redundancies was more trouble than it was worth.
Although sackings have been avoided this time, new rounds of redundancies are planned as the ATO continues to "downsize" and "outsource". These are unlikely to be all voluntary. Even if they were, CPSU opposition to compulsory redundancies, while accepting voluntary ones, is not sufficient. Cuts to public service jobs add to existing high unemployment and increase the workload of those who remain, resulting in delays and poor service.
Ben Courtice, a CPSU delegate in the Moonee Ponds tax office, commented: "We need a strong industrial and political campaign by the whole CPSU against the downsizing and outsourcing policies of the government. The tax section council of the CPSU has rejected motions calling for such a campaign. It is satisfied with trying to ensure that redundancies are voluntary, relying on appeals to the AIRC, plus limited industrial action confined to the tax office. This strategy will not continue to succeed as the government's offensive against the public sector intensifies."
Meanwhile, the ATO has sought to further divide staff by offering senior officers a separate agreement with up to 21% more pay. Tax commissioner Michael Carmody, who is touring the country to sell the package, has advised senior officers that they could be entitled to a 6% pay rise from January 1, plus a performance-based bonus between 5 and 15%.
Negotiations on the certified agreement for lower classifications have not improved a salary offer of up to 4% per year, conditional on staff agreeing to a new eight-level classification system and there being sufficient funds in the administration budget.
Senior officers at grade A and B levels can choose either a certified agreement covering only them or an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) with identical conditions. The CPSU and the Australian Services Union are seeking legal advise about whether the Workplace Relations Act allows for a separate certified agreement for senior officers, who do not constitute a separate workplace as stipulated by the act.
This would bring to three the groupings of staff within the ATO with distinct employment conditions. Senior executive officers have already been advised that they will only be offered AWAs.
The ATO has broken off negotiations with unions on the main agreement, despite major disagreements over key points. Instead, national program managers will be touring the country to convince staff of the merits of the next draft agreement.
Late last year the CPSU tax section executive foreshadowed nation-wide industrial action in February if no satisfactory agreement was reached. There has been no word from the union about this since.