STAFF at the CSIRO have begun industrial action against budget cuts and staff losses.
The scientific research organisation suffered a $115 million budget cut over four years in last year’s federal budget and the CSIRO Staff Association is watching to see whether further CSIRO cuts will be included in Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey’s budget next Tuesday (12 May).
There have been job losses at the CSIRO’s marine and atmospheric research laboratories at Aspendale as a result of last year’s budget cuts (‘Jobs axed as science cuts hit home’, The News 21/6/14).
CSIRO Staff Association spokesman Anthony Keenan said work bans including a refusal to work unpaid overtime is the first phase of industrial action.
“It’s targeting cooperation with management rather than scientific output. There has been some good participation in those bans at Aspendale.”
Mr Keenan said the work bans will continue throughout May in the hope management drop “the agenda of cuts”.
If next week’s federal budget mimics last year’s effort with more CSIRO budget cuts Mr Keenan said he is sure there will be “an escalation” of industrial action including the possibility of strikes or work stoppages.
The union is fighting CSIRO moves to slash redundancy terms, increase working hours and shorten leave allowance under a broader federal government public sector bargaining policy.
Future proposed pay rises will not exceed 1 per cent annually.
“There are lots of CSRIO staff who felt after the budget cuts [last year] that they’d been unfairly targeted and despite what the government might say they do have a bit of a perception problem. They are seen as being anti-science.”
Mr Keenan said that perception of the Abbott government “may be unfair” but “playing politics so hard around climate change” and the decision not to appoint a dedicated minister for science after winning government makes the public think the government “has a problem with science”.
“People just feel that it’s cutting their future … there’s very few people who would argue that spending on science and research is a bad investment,” he said.
New CSIRO CEO Dr Larry Marshall has indicated management is unwilling to push back against the government’s bargaining policy, according to the union.
CSIRO spokesman Huw Morgan said management “is working within existing legislative and policy requirements to come up with the best possible offer for our staff”.
“We hope that through further negotiations we will be soon be in a position to table an offer. We continue to discuss bargaining matters affecting our staff and unions at the negotiating table.”
The next meeting between CSIRO management and the union will take place later this month.
First published in the Chelsea Mordicalloc Mentone News – 6 May 2015
