By Paul Oboohov
Progressive candidates from the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs did well in the recent Community and Public Sector Union national elections.
In the national office of DEETYA, however, progressive candidates did poorly, with that electorate voting first for conservative, then either Labor Party-connected or liberal candidates before progressive candidates. One of the two progressive ACT branch delegates lost her position.
This result is partly due to a false sense of security among national office staff due to that office mostly surviving the destruction of the CES to play a policy and purchasing role for the federal government.
However, this is only the first round of budget cuts, and DEETYA, as one of the mega-departments covering schools, higher education, technical and further education, labour market and international functions, is unlikely to remain in this form. Its smaller size will facilitate a future carve-up.
Overall, the ALP's "Viv Colmer Team" swept the board in section executive and section councillor positions. The new section council incorporates all recent incumbents who opposed a CPSU-wide response to the CES privatisation.
Just before Christmas, management dealt two blows to the union leadership's strategy of limiting the industrial response to the attacks on DEETYA while lobbying the Senate to stop the attacks on CES.
First, employment, education, training and youth affairs minister Amanda Vanstone announced that the secretary of DEETYA would use his legal powers to privatise the CES, with the government as company shareholder in the first instance, thereby bypassing the need for Senate approval.
Then, sensing the weakness in the CPSU leadership, DEETYA management followed up with a demand that the CPSU respond to its terms for the transfer to the Service Delivery Agency (the corporatised agency that will swallow the DSS network, and some CES staff) within one day.
These terms are based on seniority of substantive positions, ignoring the fact that many CES staff have long served in "higher duties" positions.
The response of the union leaders was to capitulate immediately, recommend that industrial action be halted and enter negotiations over transfer to the SDA. This indicates their likely response to the forthcoming Public Employment Placement Enterprise, the private company that will swallow the CES.
Now, belatedly, the CPSU national executive has authorised DEETYA sub-branch delegates' committees to present the CES situation to their counterparts in other federal government departments. In so doing, the leadership is attempting to distance itself from an impending disaster of its own making.