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Issue No. 250 | 21 December 2004 |
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Beyond The Law
Interview: The King of Comedy Unions: Ten Simple Rules Politics: Rampant Indivdualism International: Global Struggle Economics: Cashing in the Year History: Grass Roots Review: Cultural Realities Poetry: Y-U-C-K
Predictions The Soapbox The Locker Room Parliament
 Costa�s Hike UnfareTemporary ArrangementsThe Price Of Tea In ChinaGoodthinkCry For Me, ArgentinaHo Bloody HoAmenRight Is WrongBusiness As UsualAll In The FamilySwing Left Wishful Thinking
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Letters to the Editor Temporary Arrangements
As the government comes under more pressure to meet community expectations in servicing core functions, it is looking to limit its commitments in what it sees as non-essential business. One result is the current rush to amalgamate these "non-essential" departments. These amalgamations, in turn, help to facilitate redundancies thus reducing the government's major long-term financial burden - permanent salaries. Temporaries, some externally funded are replacing more and more of these permanents, others funded from consolidated revenue or quasi-commercial government operations. They are seen as a more flexible and cost-effective alternative. But these temporaries do not enjoy the same benefits as their permanent workmates and furthermore are not compensated for this discrepancy. A recent example at my workplace in the newly formed DPI highlights the problem. Two employees working in the same section recently left after similar years of service. One was a permanent officer who wanted to leave. He saw the redundancies coming so applied for and was granted leave without pay. Subsequently he was offered a redundancy, which he accepted. The other employee was a temporary filling a vacated permanent position. She was informed, with minimum notice, that the position she was filling would not be extended and she was dismissed. Over the years I've seen temporary employees struggle with similar inequities in the workplace. In fact we have "temporary" employees who have been on the full-time payroll for 15 years. Because they are externally or commercially funded they cannot expect permanency or the resultant benefits of this status. I have attended recent restructure meetings where aggrieved permanents have been attempting to avoid or deal with forced transfers. Little attention has been paid to the long-term temporaries attending the meeting whose positions seem forever in limbo. Some have expressed the opinion (to me) that they would much prefer to have the problem that the permanents are dealing with. Generally the temporaries end up resentful of this two-tiered employment situation and obviously this does not lend itself to a happy work environment. I'm sure my workplace is not unique. I believe a future public service will see a workplace dominated by temporaries. Permanents will still perform regulatory, management and core functions but they will probably be in the minority. Management's response to me regarding the inherent inequity in this developing two-tiered employment structure is that it's the way of the world and there's nothing they can do about it. My response is that you cannot expect the beneficiaries of change to remedy its deficiencies. And management do benefit, even at the local level. It is much easier to have a temporary workforce whose future employment is heavily reliant on management approval. I want my union to be about fairness and equity. This sometimes means looking beyond the level playing field and being prepared to make allowance for obvious disadvantage. The first step as far as the union is concerned is to recognise that temporary employment is not a temporary phenomenon. It is here to stay. One approach then might be to build in to our awards some compensation for temporary employees. As a permanent officer I believe it is going to be up to us to bring about change. It may not be an easy issue but its one that is not going to go away and its one that our union needs to be seen to be addressing. Robert Lowe PSA Member No 8831
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