ATO offers revised agreement
By Chris Slee
Following the rejection of a proposed agreement in a staff vote, the Australian Taxation Office management has offered a few concessions in an attempt to get a revised agreement approved.
At first, Taxation Commissioner Michael Carmody said he would refuse to negotiate with the unions and would put the same agreement to staff again. However, he was forced to back down and negotiate, and is now offering an agreement with the unions instead of "staff".
The wording of the revised draft is not yet available. It reportedly makes concessions on issues such as flexitime and the right of unions to take disputes to the Industrial Relations Commission, but still contains major attacks on job security and working conditions.
The Community and Public Sector Union is planning to hold a straw vote of its members in the ATO to decide its response to management's proposed changes.
Members First, a group of rank and file CPSU activists in the Tax Office, has called for a campaign of industrial action to win a better agreement. A leaflet published by the group argued for membership meetings to be held as soon as possible to plan a campaign for a pay rise, job security and no trade-offs.