News

TAFE: front office staffing arrangements

Student Services Managers have developed steps to follow for when front offices may be closed during normal business hours due to staff unavailability. According to this process, the following staff need to be checked for their availability in the following order:

1. Regular customer services staff
2. TAFE Services Coordinators
3. Library Staff

Library staff are not obliged to follow any direction from Student Services and Support Team Leaders to do such clerical duties for the following reasons:

• Work Health and Safety: Library staff are not trained in front office operations, security, evacuation, opening/closing procedure, duress alarms etc.
• Reporting lines: Library staff do not report to Student Services and Support Team Leaders
• Your EA: Library staff work under the Library classifications and not the TAFE Worker classifications of the Enterprise Agreement.
• Solidarity: Customer and Student Support staff have recently been made redundant, reassigned and/or instructed not to serve customers at the front office. Permanent security staff who also, out of good will, filled in on occasions have also been privatised.

As always, the CPSU NSW is continuing to fight on your behalf during these difficult times. We are here for you if you have any questions regarding the restructure, or if you need advice and support. In the meantime, if you know of anybody who isn’t a union member but would like to join, they can join online at www.cpsunsw.org.au/join.

We are stronger as a collective, and acting in union is the only way that we will be able to stand up and fight against TAFE’s blatant cost-cutting measures.