BY ANDREW HALL
CANBERRA — Government heavy Tony Abbott is asking the workers of his own department, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), to trust him, even as he seeks to reduce employee conditions and to introduce individual contracts.
While encouraging employees to sign up for individual contracts, management has stalled negotiations for a new certified agreement.
The department's corporate general manager, Craig Symon, has said that the form of the agreement is not important, suggesting that employees are only concerned about their pay rises and not who is involved in the bargaining process. "We're just trying to have a modern environment where they can trust me and I can trust them," he has said.
But union members in the department see it different, one delegate telling Green Left Weekly: "Trust seems difficult, if not foolhardy, with management proposing to 'review' hours of work, flextime and overtime arrangements."
"Supposedly the lead agency in workplace relations, DEWR is setting an example for the public sector and for Australian employers in how to create an unproductive and unrewarding workplace environment," the union activist claimed.
"The offer of [individual contracts] to all staff has fostered an atmosphere of secrecy, distrust and inequality. The template [contracts] contain performance bonus 'carrots' of up to 20% of annual salary. However these bonuses are subject to budgetary constraints and management prerogative through a flawed system of performance measurement," she said.
Other management proposals include restricting access to the Industrial Relations Commission for dispute resolution and reducing redeployment and redundancy conditions for older workers.
A recent email ballot found that 94% of the 1984 staff that responded wanted a union-negotiated deal — but management is ignoring this and is instead proposing a non-union agreement.
The Community and Public Sector Union has taken the case to the Industrial Relations Commission, and on May 23 nearly 100 unionists rallied outside their building before marching on the commission.
Management at Comcare, also an agency under Tony Abbott's rule, are also pushing through a staff vote to decide between a non-union or a union negotiated certified agreement.
From Green Left Weekly, May 29, 2002.
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