Prime Minister should give up being Scrooge, says union. 

Union members from the 35,000-strong Department of Human Services (DHS) will go out on strike on four days before Christmas in protest over the federal government’s fixed stance on their pay and conditions.

The strikes will affect union members at Medicare, Centrelink and Child Support and include workers at call centres and customer service centres at various times on Monday, December 5, Friday, December 9, Monday, December 12 and Friday, December 16.

It is the latest shot across the bow from union members at DHS who have already rejected three agreements over the last three years, most recently in mid-November with a 74 per cent no-vote.

They had already rejected the government’s proposed enterprise bargaining agreement in February 2016 (by 79 per cent) and September 2015 (by 83 per cent).

Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) National Secretary Nadine Flood said workers were striking as they faced their third Christmas without a pay rise because they were “frustrated and worried by the Turnbull Government’s mean and illogical public sector bargaining policy”.

She said that the harsh impact of the long-running APS bargaining dispute has been laid bare during a Senate inquiry which received 600 submissions – many of these personal – and ran public hearings, where APS workers told of the hardship and distress the dispute had caused them.

Ms Flood said: “DHS staff work every day to help ordinary Australians but they’ve been doing it pretty tough themselves for three long years as the government’s frozen their pay while trying to strip essential rights, such as the family-friendly conditions that allow a call-centre worker to balance shift work with raising a family.

“These workers are among the lowest paid in the Commonwealth public sector, and stand to lose the most under the Government’s policy. They want to go on strike, even though they can’t really afford to but they are absolutely desperate for Government to do something. It really underlines how nasty this bargaining mess is.”

Industrial action was a last ditch attempt to  highlight their plight, she said.

“It’s the same reason why hundreds of them made personal submissions to the Senate inquiry into public sector bargaining, telling their personal stories of financial hardship and their worry that the enterprise agreement being pushed by their bosses will force them to choose between their job and their family.”

In a Dickensian Christmas appeal to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Ms Flood said “Surely there’s no better time than Christmas for the Prime Minister to stop playing Scrooge and change the public sector bargaining policy to allow a fair and reasonable settlement”.

Details of the strikes

Monday, December 5

7am – 11am local time: Limited impact on administrative functions

1pm – 6pm local time: Possible impact on ‘Smart Centre’ call centre and processing services

Friday, December 9

7am – 11am local time: Limited impact on administrative functions

1pm – 6pm local time: Possible impact on ‘Customer Service Centre’ face-to-face services

Monday, December 12

7am – 11am local time: Limited impact on administrative functions

1pm – 6pm local time: Possible impact on ‘Customer Service Centre’ face-to-face services

Friday, December 16

7am – 11am local time: Limited impact on administrative functions

1pm – 6pm local time: Possible impact on ‘Smart Centre’ call centre and processing services