Urban Services Treats Workers Like Worn Out Tools

Wayne Berry - Opposition Spokesperson on Industrial Relations

Media Statement - 3 June 2000

The Department of Urban Services is avoiding its responsibility for injured workers Labor Industrial Relations spokesman, Wayne Berry, said today.

Mr Berry's statement follows evidence before the Legislative Assembly Estimates Committee which reveals that while the Government intends to shed permanent blue collar workers in some areas of Urban Services this year about 100 workers have been contracted from labour hire companies.

When responding to questions from Mr Berry, Government representatives admitted that where a labour hire worker could not work because of injury a replacement was simply ordered from the labour hire company. "As a result the Government avoids any responsibility for ongoing worker's compensation responsibilities, rehabilitation or return to work action", according to Mr Berry.

"This is a scandalous cost shedding exercise which impacts on workers. Instead of taking responsibility for injured workers the Government merely treats them as if they were replacing a worn out tool.

"The Government is carried away with commercialism and has discovered a device normally reserved for the most callous employers. By shifting away from direct employment the Department is treating workers as tradable commodities and avoids the normal responsibility required for employees which are directly hired.

"While the Minister for Urban Services, Brendan Smyth, might be able to boast about cost savings and efficiency arising from this callous approach, the end result is that injured workers are abandoned by the use of commercial devices which are indifferent to anything except the bottom line", Mr Berry concluded.