BY CHRIS SLEE
MELBOURNE — Community and Public Sector Union members in tax offices around Australia have voted to endorse a campaign against planned job cuts.
In the last budget the federal government cut Australian Taxation Office funding by 9%. As a result, ATO management has sacked hundreds of temporary workers and is planning to make 1300 more employees redundant. The CPSU believes further cuts are likely.
The union leadership put forward two motions which were endorsed by membership meetings around Australia. One motion calls for a "publicity, lobbying and industrial campaign to oppose funding cuts and win more resources for the ATO".
The other motion calls for further membership meetings to be held if the ATO fails to give adequate information about its plans for redundancies or to "develop with the CPSU a comprehensive staffing strategy to eliminate the threat of compulsory redundances" by September 10.
Members in some offices have decided on specific local actions.
Geelong workers are planning a half-day strike on September 12 unless management reverses its decison to cut Geelong office staffing by 13%.
Workers in Chermside, in Brisbane, have decided to stage a part-day strike on the morning of September 13, while workers in the Brisbane city office will strike on the afternoon of September 12 and the morning of September 13.