Win at Student Assistance Centre
By Jen Crothers
SYDNEY — At a time when victories in the pubic service are few and far between, a group of workers at Blacktown Student Assistance Centre have had a win.
Since the federal budget, and the loss of 38% of staff in a voluntary redundancy exercise, the staff at Blacktown SAC have been under a lot of pressure. The number of assessors has been halved, and there is only one processing team and one inquiry officer. Staff have been required to do large amounts of overtime since August just to keep up with the work.
CPSU members met in mid-October and resolved to put a ban on all incoming telephone inquiries. The ban was to remain until the number of trained staff was increased to at least the staffing level of the 1996 season.
The union delegate was put under pressure to lift the ban, but stood firm. The ban was effective and the go-ahead has now been given to recruit more staff. The members have pledged to maintain their industrial action until the appropriate infrastructure is actually in place.