Western Sydney University workers denounce cuts to jobs and conditions
By
our correspondents
21 October 2017
After last Thursday’s four-hour stoppage and protest rally, Western Sydney University academics and other workers spoke to the WSWS about the escalating attacks on their jobs and basic conditions, and the political issues raised by the role of the trade unions.
Among them was Greg Pinchbeck, one of the 41 security officers being retrenched by the university, and being replaced by contract labour. Pinchbeck has been employed at WSU for 14 years. He started in 2003 as a casual, and was made permanent in 2005. Before that he had worked at Telstra, the former publicly-owned telecommunications company, for 24 years, before being retrenched from there as well.
“At my age, I am going to find it very difficult to find another job,” Pinchbeck said. “This is happening everywhere. We’ve been told it’s this thing called ‘flexibility.’”
Pinchbeck highlighted the problems that would arise from replacing all the security guards with contractors. Only a director and two regional managers would remain. “I know this campus inside out,” he explained. “I know the people. I know the problems … If we have mobile security contractors and there is a fire on campus, or an assault, it might take an hour to get here.
“The security industry has a lot of shonky practices. There are payments under the table, under-payments, employment of people on visas who are not legally permitted to work, and sub-, sub-, sub-contracting. The industry’s got a bad name and that’s what’s going to happen here. You will have people trying to cope with emergencies who won’t even know where the buildings are. People are going to get hurt.”
Asked whether the…