Federal law enforcement and criminal intelligence gathering is poised become the latest industrial relations battleground after the Commonwealth’s main public sector union hit out at what it claims is a dud pay offer for staff at the elite Australian Crime Commission which amounts to zero per cent increase and a wind-back of conditions.
The Community and Public Sector Union has gone on the offensive over what it says represents “a new low in bargaining negotiations with the federal Government” telling members the union expects a nil salary increase offer will be put to ACC staff this week as bargaining commences, a move it anticipates will be coupled with an attempt to “strip away a wide range of existing workplace rights and protections.”
The prospect of morale-sapping pay row at the Crime Commission, which has some of the strongest compulsive powers available under Australian law, could grow into another unwanted headache for the Abbott government as it seeks to cement its ‘get tough’ law enforcement credentials by clamping down on bikie gangs, drug importation and organised crime syndicates.
A key role of the Crime Commission is its nationally focussed intelligence gathering and specialist investigations capabilities which helps state police join the dots on, high-level cross-border criminal activity — including major narcotics importation rackets run by international syndicates — looking to take advantage of Australia’s comparatively high dollar.
However a less publicised area of work for the ACC are its activities and intelligence gathering around a sophisticated financial crimes and fraud including superannuation fraud and payments system frauds that hit funds and banks to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
CPSU National Secretary, Nadine Flood, said the pay offer was “a ludicrous, nasty proposition” that demonstrated “the absurdity of the [federal] Government’s flawed approach to bargaining.”
The CPSU is also harnessing the low-ball pay offer it says will be offered to ACC staff as a sharp counterpoint to a populist stereotype that “public servants are all faceless bureaucrats with cushy job.”
“The reality is just like the hard-working staff of Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Defence, Crime Commission staff are on the frontline of keeping our community safe. These are elite crime fighters, busting major drug importation rings and bikie gangs. They feel this offer is a slap in the face,” Ms Flood said.
“These men and women have some of the toughest jobs in the country and they’ve already endured years of deep cuts and job losses. They’ve been asked to do more with less but this represents a new low.”
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