| The real consequences of TasTAFE becoming a GBE won’t be seen today, but over the next five years. Privatisation is always denied by government’s spin doctors when it’s called out, but if it’s allowed to go ahead – governments can wash their hands of accountability for job cuts and changes to your pay and working conditions. |
| You just have to look at what is happening right now at TAFE in New South Wales. NSW TAFE has already been transferred to Fair Work – where Peter Gutwein plans to put TasTAFE staff. |
Just in 2021:
- Two major restructures will see 10 per cent of educational support jobs cut.
- These restructures, in Student Services and Facilities Management & Logistics, will see 678 frontline jobs go, including 470 regional jobs.
- These jobs include: Student advisors, customer support officers, field officers, VET fee help coordinators, help desk operators, marketing and promotions support officers, gardeners, caretakers, facilities officers, tradespersons, tool store persons, security officers, asset and fleet control managers, and site services assistants.
| When asked about job cuts, a spokeswoman for TAFE NSW told the media: “These are not front-line jobs. There are no teaching positions, or roles that support students in the classroom or with their studies in these proposed changes.” Some TAFE NSW staff will be able to reapply for new jobs but at a much lower salary with a number of jobs downgraded by almost 10k. So even if they stay employed, NSW TAFE staff will be worse off and paid less. |
| The cuts will also sell off and privatise the Scone TAFE campus in the Hunter Valley. But the NSW government is denying this is privatisation, claiming the dismantling of an entire campus is no more than, “selling a piece of land.” |
| Here’s what Stewart Little, general secretary of the CPSU NSW Stewart Little explains what’s happening to NSW TAFE: “It’s straight out of the privatisation playbook – under resource the system and then sell it off claiming the private market will do a better job. TAFE NSW should never be privatised.” |
Interested in joining us to stop the transfer of TasTAFE to a GBE then add you name here: www.cpsu.com.au/keep-it-ours/.
