Non-technology staff summarily thrown into tech-facing roles with little or no previous technical experience because of a talent shortage need to be able to skill up or transfer to another part of the organisation in which they can apply their existing skills, rather than being performance-managed-out by default.
That’s the nub of a serious row over an alleged attempt to strip away key workplace conditions at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) that’s sent the legal paperwork flying after the Taxation Officers Branch of the Australian Services Union (ASU) filed for an umpire’s intervention and accused the agency of lying to sneak through ways to make it cheaper and easier to sack public servants.
The ASU on Monday filed documents with the Fair Work Commission requesting bargaining orders — a legal direction — from the industrial umpire enforcing good faith bargaining requirements, directly accusing the agency of trying to strip out by stealth key protections for staff.
The protections are contained in the ATO enterprise bargaining agreement and refer to the number of steps taken, time taken and potential opportunity to move to another role provided to ATO staff before they are put on notice to improve prior to potential termination of employment.
The protections, known as clauses 90 and 91, are a line in the sand for the ASU because of the frequent large-scale deployment of new and disruptive technologies, ranging from risk modelling and pattern recognition to advanced...
Professional rivalry and office politics were the driving forces behind the "false" sexual harassment and conversion allegations levelled against Tata Consulting Services (TCS) employee Raza Rafiq...