When it comes to staring down a big union over a strike, it can help to get your story straight. At least that’s the theory.

Just hours after the Community and Public Sector Union officially announced its members had overwhelmingly voted in a ballot for industrial action at the Department of Human Services over a below inflation pay deal, there were markedly differing accounts of what that actually means for the millions of Centrelink customers across Australia.

Lockstep condemnation of the CPSU’s choice of action from both the senior management of Human Services and Employment and Public Service Minister Senator Eric Abetz appears to be where agreement both starts and ends in one of the biggest industrial showdowns the federal public sector has faced in more than a decade.

The key cleavage appears to be the issue of disruption for clients of government services — and how it will play out.

On the one hand, Human Services’ management, very professionally fronted by veteran spokesman Hank Jongen, is actively playing down the possibility of interruption to welfare payments. Given that DHS has for years had fallback protocols to deal with natural disasters and other catastrophes, that perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise.

“In the event of work stoppages, the department will remain open for business. We have robust processes to ensure customers’ payments would continue without disruption,” Mr Jongen said.

“We are extremely disappointed the union is agitating for industrial action given we have been bargaining in good faith with representatives – including the CPSU – for some months now. We believe this should be a last resort measure and the union is jumping the gun while we are still at the negotiating table.”

Human Services, which has to run the gauntlet of talkback radio shock jocks on a weekly basis, has good reason to hose down the erupting stink, if only to protect the circuitry at its call centres.
Conversely, Senator Abetz, the government’s Right faction leader in the upper house, obtains little political mileage from the notion that there will be negligible pain for pensioners and the vulnerable when industrial action ensues.

“It is concerning that the CPSU’s irresponsible industrial action threatens to disrupt Centrelink and Medicare services to millions of Australia in the lead up to Christmas,” Senator Abetz said.

“The CPSU should abandon its irresponsible claim for a 12 per cent wage rise, which is simply not affordable and, if granted, would cost the jobs of 10,000 public servants.”

Whether the federal bureaucracy could actually function effectively in the event a total of 26,500 jobs were turfed is contestable, particularly given that the jobs of ministers are inherently less secure than that of bureaucrats.

A common sentiment in the APS now appears to be that there less painful methods of administering a haircut (read outcome) than dragging the recipient to the barber’s chair by the follicles. That may not count for much.

Here’s what both Human Services management and Senator Abetz issued as their key lines on Monday night:

Senator Abetz:

•    “The CPSU should abandon its irresponsible claim for a 12 per cent wage rise, which is simply not affordable and, if granted, would cost the jobs of 10,000 public servants.

•    Any wage increase will see a further increase in Australia’s borrowings. This claim is not about profit sharing but increasing our debt which taxpayers will need to repay with interest.

•    It is concerning that the CPSU’s irresponsible industrial action threatens to disrupt Centrelink and Medicare services to millions of Australia in the lead up to Christmas.”

Human Services:

•    We are extremely disappointed the union is agitating for industrial action given we have been bargaining in good faith with representatives – including the CPSU – for some months now.

•    We believe this should be a last resort measure and the union is jumping the gun while we are still at the negotiating table.

•    Formal bargaining with union and employee bargaining representatives is scheduled this week and we remain committed to having a draft agreement – which meets the Government’s bargaining policy – for our staff to consider as soon as possible.

•    The department manages potential industrial action as part of ongoing business continuity planning.

•    In the event of work stoppages, the department will remain open for business. We have robust processes to ensure customers’ payments would continue without disruption.

The dispute continues.