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Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
| Subject: OZschwitz: Long fight with leftist waterfront unions in bid to privatize ferry services Tue Sep 06, 2011 4:32 am | |
| THE NSW government is facing a long fight with waterfront unions in its bid to privatise the ferry services after rejecting an offer yesterday that would have ensured frontline staff remained government employees.
Passengers had their first taste of a potential dispute between the government and waterfront unions when a stopwork meeting called by the government knocked services out for almost five hours to allow staff to hear about the privatisation plan.
The meeting came after the six unions representing Sydney Ferries staff had proposed to work with the government on the proposed franchising of the network, provided staff remained technically public servants and only management was contracted out.
But the government rejected this offer at a meeting with union officials last week and instead offered a ''transfer package'' for employees shifting to the private operator that includes a one-off payment of up to 30 weeks salary and no forced redundancies for two years.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ofarrell-plan-to-privatise-sydney-ferries-runs-into-stormy-waters-20110905-1ju9w.html |
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