STAFF at Centrelink in Bendigo will be involved in work bans from mid-next week as part of an ongoing pay and conditions dispute.
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Those accessing Centrelink services can expect additional waiting times on the phone and face-to-face at the Lyttleton Terrace office during the action, which will occur intermittently between February 15 and 24.
The work bans include handing out statements to customers about the ongoing agreement, which staff believe leaves them worse off than the current agreement. There will also be low-level bans involving the gathering of statistics.
The latest pay offer was rejected 70-30 by Community and Public Sector Union members.
The pay dispute has stretched since 2014, when the Abbott government attempted to impose an increasingly hardline industrial relations approach to the public sector.
The Bendigo site was also involved in nationwide work bans in early December and between Christmas and New Year’s.
The CPSU confirmed public servants involved in the robo-debt recovery policy will not be involved in the bans.
Department of Human Services spokesperson Hank Jongen encouraged people to use online services rather than attend Centrelink offices in person, or over-the-phone, during the period of industrial action.
“If there are disruptions they will be to our telephone and face to face services on Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” he said.
"We're asking customers to use the self-service options available through myGov and the Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support mobile apps."
CPSU national secretary Nadine Flood told Fairfax Media the industrial action was in response to “continuing damage” caused by the federal government and senior management.
“Whe problems go far deeper in the Department of Human Services because of years of budget cuts and the Government's harsh and illogical public sector bargaining policy,” she said.
“There are 34,000 hardworking Medicare, Centrelink and Child Support staff who've gone more than three years without a pay rise as they've fought for a new enterprise agreement.”
The Bendigo Centrelink office is one of the city’s largest employers, with about 250 staff.