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Summer 2008

Public Sector Landslide

YOU would have been living in another world not to have noticed the massive campaign the HACSU and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has been embroiled in with the State Government over the last six months.

The campaign aimed to achieve pay parity for public sector workers and has resulted in a major shift in the way jobs will be classified in the public system.

Salaries will be brought into line with interstate counterparts, ensuring that the Tasmanian public sector can continue to provide services to the community well into the future.

Public services along with many key health and community services provided by members are at risk.

Demographic change in Tasmania is the biggest threat we have to our health and social services systems.

Over the next 10 years there will be two workers retiring from the Australian workforce for every one joining it, and governments will need to confront the issues that this dilemma presents.

Retaining and attracting skilled workers through competitive pay and working conditions is one way that this can happen.

In 2004, HACSU members voted to confront these issues.

HACSU members viewed the old award classification standards limited the capacity of the public sector to respond to emerging issues.

The standards were, in essence, written in the late 1980s and have endured well beyond their 'use by date'.

In 2004, the State Government baulked on addressing this issue which culminated in a campaign to have it dealt with comprehensively over a 12 month period, which was achieved in 2007.

HACSU knew that this needed to be a massive campaign which engaged members, but also and perhaps more importantly, engaged the community.

Public sector wage increases are not usually well received by the community as the common misconception is that these pay rises are for the bureaucrats.

HACSU has put a lot of effort into dispelling this myth.
A huge paid and unpaid media campaign was launched to highlight the diverse range of services provided by the public sector.

Unions held local blitz's in rural communities which highlighted the role of public servants and what their salaries meant to the economy in their community.

This campaign was well received by locals and a huge success.

Inevitably, the Government rejected our claim and put a "final" offer to members which was resoundingly rejected at membership meetings.

In response to the Government's offer, a strategic escalating industrial campaign was launched at mass meetings across the State.

The sheer number of HACSU members who attended meetings, and the escalating campaign, enabled us to maintain and build pressure on the Government over an extended period which forced them back to the negotiating table.

The outcome of these negotiations is now currently being put to members by way of a postal ballot.

The gains made throughout this campaign should not be lost on members working outside of the public sector.

Historically, change in the public sector has been a precursor to changes in the non government sector.

In 1994, the last significant wages restructure process in the health sector resulted in an almost identical change to the Private Hospitals Award.

The public sector has also led the way on issues like paid maternity leave, post graduate allowances and various other conditions, which are now enjoyed by most members.