On Tuesday, Environmental Services Officers downed tools after they rocked up to work the day before to find the THS had outsourced parts of their job to a private company.  

Workers weren’t consulted or given the heads up, and it was a complete shock to them when they came into work on a Monday thinking they’d be able to get on with their job as usual.

Thankfully, your Award is clear: management must consult with you before they make any changes to your working environment – and they’re not able to just give out private contracts to their mates.

You work for the public service, not for a private company that’s in it to get rich. It’s important we keep it that way.

HACSU members fought back against their dodgy tactics, and at their stop-work they voted to continue escalating industrial action until the Department backed down on their breach of the Award and scrapped the contractors.

Because of their action, management have now been forced to can the outsourcing and sit down with delegates to talk about a real solution to their staffing issues.

Privatising public sector jobs is never the answer. We know it costs more money and ends up a poorer service in the long run – and the community you serve, and your colleagues, deserve better than that.

It always pays to speak up, so if you’re ever worried about private companies sniffing around at your work, please make sure you get in contact with us.

We’ll always fight to protect the roles of public sector workers and make sure that the government works on a real fix to attract new staff (and look after the workers they already have).

We don’t accept that our health services should ever be publicly subsidised but privately profitable. Congratulations to Environmental Services for taking a stand!

If you have any questions or want to know more, please make sure you get in touch with me on 1300 880 032 or via assist@hacsu.org.au