The Victorian government has announced an independent review of public sector spending and has anticipated that the report will recommend cutting up to 3,000 public service jobs.
On Tuesday public sector union members and supporters came together to express their anger at the proposed public service job cuts and the potential intensification of work and other psychosocial hazards that such changes will undoubtedly bring.
The Community and Public Sector Union Victoria has vowed to fight the cuts that will stem from yet another review of the state’s payroll and headcount that the government believes needs to be rebalanced to pre-COVID levels.
In response to Premier Allan’s statement that “Frontline workers will not be included in the scope of the review. This government will never cut nurses, teachers, police officers, or child protection workers”, CPSU secretary Karen Batt said that “playing frontline/backline distinctions is insulting as everyone contributes to the delivery of our public services”.
Union secretary Karen Batt said that Victoria’s Public Service (VPS) “has returned over $5 billion in savings from the past three budgets and the bone is bare. Crazy, ill-thought-through proposals end up costing the government more as our population booms and demand for services grows.”
Victorian Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari said making comparisons between frontline and back-office staff didn’t wash. He questions who would pick up the work dropped by up to 3000 people. “What gets cut? Who works harder?”
“All work is important. 1 in 10 employees in Victoria is working for the public service or it’s agencies. Sacking 3,000 members of the public service will have an impact on everyone’s lives. These are the people who deliver key services. They make sure our schools, hospitals, our justice system, transport and so many other services run well. By showing them the door, we will see several things happen:
- their work may be given to frontline staff
- some work will not be done at all
- services will be delivered slower
- their work may be contracted out to private consultants and
- 3,000 families will be in hardship as they look for a new job
None of these outcomes are good for Victoria and the Government should sit down with the CPSU and find a better way.”
Julian Kenelly from the CPSU explains “Our public sector is made up of 330,000 dedicated individuals delivering public services and is the smallest in size per capita of any State or Territory. The Sector contains the Public Service. The Service comprises just over 52,000 of that more than 300,000 government employees. Just 1 in 6 therefore of every Government employee.”
“The Service is made up of over 300 specialist occupations delivering additional vital public services or employed to regulate laws passed by parliament to protect Victorians.
“The Treasurer and Premier only ruled out cutting Child Protection which is just one of these public service occupations. But what about our other 299?”
Read more: Victorian government to cut thousands of public sector jobs to rein in spending - ABC News