Residential Tenancies Authority staff launch union action

THERE’S been a spot of aggro inside on State Government body this month, prompting staff to launch what’s believed to be their first ever union action.

Alex Scott, Head of Together Union. Photo: Adam Armstrong

RTA REVOLT

There’s been a spot of aggro inside the Residential Tenancies Authority this month, prompting staff to launch what’s believed to be their first ever union action.

Eyebrows arched skywards after three senior RTA staff were ordered to immediately transfer to the Department of Housing and Public Works.

The shock change, allegedly carried out without so much as a peep of prior consultation, followed DHPW deputy DG Christine Castley joining the RTA Board recently.

Some see that as creating a potential conflict of interest, since DHPW is the biggest RTA client thanks to its public housing interests.

“The two departments should be kept separate,’’ one insider told City Beat.

Anyway, the staff shake-up proved polarising enough that more than 40 RTA employees held a meeting with union reps.

City Beat spies tell us there were plenty of complaints about a series of changes made without warning inside the RTA.

Staffers also gave unanimous support to a motion flagging “significant concerns’’ about new RTA boss Jennifer Morgan and the loss of experienced workers.

Morgan, a former Brisbane City Council bureaucrat, even earned a vote of no confidence after just eight weeks on the job.

Earlier, Together union secretary Alex Scott had fired off a “please explain’’ letter to Morgan, flagging concerns about job security and an increased workload for remaining staff.

In a written response, Morgan defended the “interchange arrangement’’ between the two agencies.

Illustration of Jennifer Morgan by Brett Lethbridge.

She said it was necessary to support the Government’s “Renting in Queensland’’ initiative and important that project team members work alongside one another.

Morgan added that plans were afoot to “provide greater clarity’’ about the issue and dispense “as much information as possible to the affected employees in a timely manner’’.

Remaining staff would not be saddled with “unreasonable workload changes,’’ she vowed.

But Morgan would give no commitment that there would not be “further organisational changes’’ in the RTA.

Morgan also would not confirm that the three senior workers will return to the RTA after their stint inside DHPW wraps up.

The union backlash might be a tad embarrassing for Housing and Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni, himself a staunch Labor unionist.

“Rumours are that the DHPW is back-pedalling on this decision as it’s a bad look but union action will continue at the RTA,’’ one City Beat source said.

CLIVE’S ASSAULT

Liquidators presiding over the $300 million Queensland Nickel disaster have threatened defamation action against Clive Palmer over his controversial letter box drops and other media statements.

The mercurial mining magnate has kept up his assault on alleged wrongdoing by those cleaning up the Townsville mess, saying the banking royal commission should be expanded to examine liquidators and administrators.

Palmer claims that the then-administrator of QN refused an offer to pay all bills, a move that triggered the sacking of 550 refinery workers, thereby “destroying Queensland’s economy’’.

He takes particular umbrage with John Park, who is among two sets of liquidators aiming to claw back hundreds of millions of dollars for QN creditors.

Palmer claims Park “has form’’ as one of the liquidators who “put their own interest first and destroy the lives of so many people’’.

Park, a senior player at FTI Consulting, has fired back in a letter to creditors, slamming the Palmer flyers and media comments as “grossly misleading’’.

He says FTI has now instructed its legal team “to take such action as is necessary to address the scandalous and defamatory claims made by Clive Palmer’’.

Remember, of course, that Palmer once listed litigation as his hobby so we’re especially keen to see how this plays out.