Longest serving General Secretary of Victorian public sector union applauds move to protect Government worker entitlements

Karen Batt, the first woman to lead the CPSU-SPSF and now the longest serving General Secretary of a Victorian public sector union has applauded a move in the Senate to make collective bargaining rights the law.

On 26 June, Senator Claire Moore moved a resolution calling for Australia to ratify ILO Convention No. 154 and Recommendation No. 163, to legally enshrine collective bargaining rights.

Batt welcomed the development, citing the O’Farrell Government’s attempt to by-pass a decision of the Full Bench of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission and force NSW Government employees to cut their pay to accommodate a rise in the superannuation guarantee.

“These assaults on public services have been accompanied by the unilateral exclusion, for government workers, of long held rights of access to industrial tribunals, the legislated removal of entitlements, and wage policies which prescribe outcomes that promote surface or non-genuine bargaining,” Ms Batt said.  “Rights at work enjoyed by all other Australian employees are denied to public sector workers by the unique nature of the Crown as their employer.”