Public servants protest State Budget
A RALLY of hundreds of public servants is “just the first step” of a long campaign against the State Budget, the Public Sector Association says.
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A RALLY of hundreds of public servants is “just the first step” of a long campaign against the State Budget, the Public Sector Association says.
The PSA warned it was mounting a long campaign and those against it should “get stuffed”.
But Treasurer Rob Lucas has refused to budge from his plan to outsource the operations of the Adelaide Remand Centre.
Interspersed by chants including “Lucas is a doofus” and “Marshall’s a liar”, more than 500 public servants protested Mr Lucas’s first Budget since 2001, namely his plans to outsource the workforce at the Adelaide Remand Centre.
A handful of court cases were delayed as a result of the industrial action, with Mr Lucas saying one case had been delayed until November or December.
Australian Council of Trade Unions national secretary Sally McManus joined the protesters, the bulk of whom were from corrections facilities around Adelaide.
Ms McManus said public servants had to win over the public and to involve grassroots public servants for the Government to overturn the remand centre privatisation.
Seven TAFE campuses and three Service SA centres will close as part of Mr Lucas’s plan to save $715 million across the forward estimates, while SA Pathology and medical imaging services have been told they could be next to be privatised if they don’t meet significant savings targets.
Under the Government’s plan, more than 4000 public servants will be cut, about 250 more than under the former Labor government's proposal.
“It’s cost the public where we’ve privatised more money as governments have had to buy back failed privatisations,” Ms McManus told the rally.
Public Sector Association state secretary Nev Kitchin said the rally was the “first step” in the fight against prison outsourcing.
“This is going to be a hard campaign. There are going to be, from my own experience being on the battle line in the past, … friendships that are going to be forged here today, and friendships destroyed,” he said. “There are going to be people that clearly need to understand that either you’re with us, or against us. And if you’re against us, get stuffed.”
Mr Lucas, who has responsibility for industrial relations, said he had been advised of one incident where an employee was abused for continuing to staff the Adelaide Remand Centre while the action took place.
He said the rally “hadn’t really done anything for the union bosses’ cause” and assessed the chance of him changing his outsourcing decision as “zero, zippo, zilch”.
“It (the industrial action) is of no great concern to me as Treasurer in terms of implementing the Budget. The people elected us to clean the mess up, we’re going to do that,” he said. “It’s the right of union bosses to take protest action … but ultimately we’re not going to be diverted from the important clean-up work in terms of the state’s finances.”
The Government has said the outsourcing is necessary to create more corrections jobs, and has guaranteed employment for all existing staff.
Mr Kitchin refused to reveal the union’s next steps. The lockdown will finish on Tuesday.