PSA News – 27 July 2015
Government ceases Home Care transfer negotiations in march towards privatisation
In what may well be a defining moment for the Baird administration in its relentless privatisation push, without any discussion with the PSA, the NSW Government has suddenly ceased negotiations on the transfer conditions of Home Care members when they move to a private provider.
The PSA has been involved in extensive discussions with the Government for many months to secure the best possible transfer deal for members.
The union was simply not prepared to accept the terms proposed by the Government which were were vastly inferior to what had been granted to other Government employees who have transferred to a private provider.
In response, on 21 July 2015, the Home Care Departmental Committee held an urgent teleconference and unanimously voted to implement industrial action in Home Care in defence of jobs, conditions and pay.
Full information on the bans is available HERE.
Privatisation exposed at Sydney forum
Government revenue streams are being privatised to companies that go on to implement tax-minimisation strategies on their Australian operations.
That was just one of the criticisms levelled at the global outsourcing agenda at a forum, Privatisation: Alternatives in the Public’s Interest, held in Sydney on 21 July.
Jason Ward of the International Transport Workers’ Federation told the forum the company running privatised electricity companies in Victoria and South Australia is now based largely in the Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean used by large companies around the world to minimise tax.
At the forum, union representatives from five countries compared privatisation experiences, citing examples of union exclusion, a drop in service quality, loss of expertise, and private sector companies being measured by looser standards than ones held against public operators.
Dr Michael Wright of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association told the forum of his organisation’s fear that privatising disability support services in the state will reduce choices for families and result in vulnerable people being exposed to market forces.
“Caring for people with a disability: if that is not a role for the state, then I don’t know what is,” said Dr Wright.
However, three speakers gave examples of where the public sector is successfully resisting the urge of governments to privatise.
Peter Simpson of the Electrical Trades Union Queensland and Northern Territory spoke of working alongside those traditionally on the other end of the political spectrum, including irrigators and rural townspeople, to defeat privatisation in the Sunshine State.
From the local government field, Sandy Moreton raised the recruiting of “angry mums” via social media to make Blacktown City Council think twice about outsourcing its child-care facilities.
Annual PSA Women’s Conference 2015
Registrations are now open for PSA Women’s Conference.
All women members of the PSA are eligible to register.
The 2015 theme, chosen by PSA Women’s Council Committee is:
‘Standing against domestic violence’
You can see a draft program HERE
You can register for the conference HERE
This year’s conference will be held on Tuesday, and Wednesday, 15-16 September 2015 at PSA House, 160 Clarence Street, Sydney.
All women who are financial members of the PSA are encouraged to nominate to attend.
Registrations close 17 August 2015
Locking in Grafton’s future
The Daily Examiner newspaper in Grafton recently reported 100 prisoners were being transferred to a wing in Grafton Gaol.
This comes on the heels of a long campaign by the PSA to re-open the correctional facility in northern NSW to relieve overcrowding in the prison system.
NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into TAFE
Make your voice heard
Since we commenced consultation we have received close to 100 submissions and held over 20 meetings with members and the public concerned for the future of TAFE and vocational education and training in general.
If you would like a meeting held in your work location, please contact Dylan Smith.
Time is running out to contribute.
Submissions are due by 14 August 2015.
We will try to arrange a meeting as soon as possible but with time so short, we ask that you consider contributing in other ways as well:
- Contribute to the PSA’s submission – provide a detailed comment HERE, addressing some or all of the terms of reference
- Provide your own submission to the Inquiry HERE
- Encourage your friends and family to write their own submission to the Inquiry
- Contact the Secretariat to the committee –
Phone: 9230 3389 or email ) and request a public hearing be held in your local area (remember to include this in your written submission)
It doesn’t matter if you are currently at TAFE or not, this policy affects us all and everyone should speak up to help us Save TAFE.
