18 October 2010

Expect crocodile tears for PMC workers in estimates

| johnboy
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The Australian has a piece on industrial relations within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet:

Departmental staff voted against an offer of a 3 per cent pay rise amid accusations of bullying tactics in negotiations, a “take it or leave it” attitude by management and suggestions from staff that “clearly Prime Minister and Cabinet has not behaved in the spirit of Ms Gillard’s Fair Work Act”.

Coalition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz said the revelations showed “the Rudd-era lack of personnel management” in the department had continued under Julia Gillard.

“This is hardly the way to treat the workforce that advises the PM and helps run the country,” Senator Abetz said. “A government that prides itself on looking after the workers can’t even look after its own department.”

Things in estimates could get quite exciting as the Coalition confect outrage and welfare concern for strange bedfellows they would usually despise.

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PMC was responsible for many of the anti Labor party leaks during the last election campaign. Time to “kiss the gunner’s daughter”.

Some staff in a Fed dept actually got the equivalent of 14% over the past two years (and remember – this was in the middle of the GFC). It was a combination of 8% pay rise and extra increments in their work levels….

So it’s not surprising the high and mighty at PMC are asking for more than 3%…

I hope Eric isn’t relying on any emails to back his statement

troll-sniffer12:30 pm 18 Oct 10

Sounds like the head of the department is a typical upper tree type as exemplified so beautifully in the following example:

The organisation is like a tree full of monkeys, all on different limbs at different levels, some climbing up, some fooling around some simply just idling. The monkeys on top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. The monkeys on the bottom look up and see nothing but assholes.

Not to say that the union, being the union, isn’t pushing for unreasonable conditions, however it is all too common for the upper crust to think it’s OK for them to spend the public purse willy-nilly on their own comforts as long as they can extract savings from the lower levels. Not a good recipe for a happy workplace, and an unhappy workplace can quickly eat up any supposed savings in less than generous treatment of workers.

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