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UNION DEMANDS RESTRUCTURE OF TAFE BE STOPPED – 27/11/19

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Wednesday 27 November 2019��

UNION DEMANDS RESTRUCTURE OF TAFE BE STOPPED��

CPSU-NSW today demanded NSW Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoffrey Lee put an immediate halt to a planned restructure of NSW TAFE that will lead to the loss of almost 200 jobs.

CPSU-NSW Assistant State Secretary Troy Wright said the union believed that the Change Management Plans developed by the NSW TFE, and signed by the Minister, were unlawful.

“The Enterprise Agreement for these workers clearly sets out how consultation on structural changes to NSW TAFE should take place.�� This process has not been followed.

“Very little detail has been provided about why these cuts are being made, or how services will be maintained once staff have been made redundant.

“In fact, the whole consultation process appears to be a sham, as NSW TAFE says the decision has already been made.”

The job losses are part of a surprise restructure that was sprung on employees last week.

91 permanent staff roles will be lost, along with a 105 contingency staff (labour hire.)

“The planned job losses are unnecessary and would have an impact on NSW TAFE’s ICT services, student services, facilities management and logistics and people and safety,” Mr Wright said.

“What’s more, the timing of this announcement is heartless, with workers told they will be made redundant just days before Christmas.”

Mr Wright said the cuts were another blow for the State’s vocational education and training sector.

“The NSW Government has gutted the TAFE system and cut around $140 million in funding since 2014.

“This is an attack on the very idea of publicly-funded vocational education by ideological vandals who want to eliminate public sector competition for private sector colleges.

“The dismantling of the TAFE system has been particularly brutal in the regions – where thriving, well-staffed campuses have been replaced by with poorly staffed centres where students simply log on and pick up information from a larger centre.

“This continues to have a damaging effect on local economies through the direct loss of jobs such as teachers, library staff, IT technicians, facility managers and so on, along with the long-term cost of undermining the quality of the vocational education experience.”

Contact: Stewart Prins 0487 119 790