Workers left out of rebuild plan: unions

TASMANIA’S working people have been systematically excluded from planning for the economic recovery from the COVID- 19 pandemic by the Liberal government, unions said on Monday.

The deliberations of the Premier’s Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Committee would inevitably be skewed towards the “big end of town” because that was who the committee was in consultation with, Unions Tasmania said.

Made up almost entirely of business chiefs and senior public servants, the committee was appointed by Premier Peter Gutwein as part of the government’s response to the pandemic; it handed down an interim report in September.

Unions have been excluded from a series of industry workshops and regional roundtables run by PESRAC.

Unions Tasmania secretary Jessica Munday said unions were concerned that the voices of workers were being ignored.

That was particularly unpalatable given the role frontline public sector workers played in helping to contain the outbreak. “No one representing workers was included in PESRAC’s membership, initial consultation processes were changed to limit input and despite nearly 90 groups being consulted in recent PESRAC workshops, worker’s representatives were left out of those forums,” she said. “We will not get the recovery we need if we don’t have worker’s voices at the table.”

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation branch secretary Emily Shepherd said she did not know why her members had not been asked for their opinions.

“There is a real risk that the Premier’s recovery advisory committee will miss the fundamental basics of the recovery process like the mental health needs of the Tasmanian community purely because the consultation process has been too narrow and only afforded those in privileged positions the opportunity to have input.”

A government spokesman said unions were included.

“PESRAC has confirmed it specifically invited Unions Tasmania to nominate representatives for all three regional roundtables, which formed an integral part of the phase- two consultation process,” he said.

“Unions Tasmania provided those nominations, and three different unions participated in the process. This followed nine workshops, with representatives from across a raft of industry, business, community, skills and education sectors … designed to deliver divergent and creative thinking to contribute towards new ideas for recovery … submissions were publicly sought from all sectors to inform recommendations for recovery.

“A two- month window was provided, with around 90 submissions received from individuals, businesses and peak groups. There were, however, none received from unions.”

Health and Community Sector Union state secretary Tim Jacobson said the PESRAC process could not be considered representative of all Tasmanians in its present form. “It is shameful the government is presenting its centrepiece of its COVID recovery plan as somehow representative of the views of all Tasmanians when in reality it represents only the interests of the big end of town,” he said.

WE WILL NOT GET THE RECOVERY WE NEED IF WE DON’T HAVE WORKER’S VOICES AT THE TABLE

JESSICA MUNDAY