By Cam Lucadou-Wells
In a pre-Christmas blow, about 50 City of Casey workers’ positions have been made redundant.
As part of a re-structure across the council, the “redeployed” workers – believed to be mainly managers, co-ordinators, team leaders and supervisors – have been invited to re-apply for 90 vacant positions by 2 December.
The council says it’s “committed” to finding each of the employees a new role among the apparent surplus of vacancies.
But according to Australian Services Union organiser Ty Lockwood, there is no guarantee they’ll all have a job beyond Christmas.
The workers were given vague descriptions of the vacancies, were unsure where they fit into the re-organised workforce and whether they’d land an equivalent position, he said.
“People are losing their jobs through no fault of their own and may be forced to take a job they don’t like.
“They’re expected to choose a job and they don’t have the information to make a decision. They don’t know what’s exactly involved in the role.
“This is the hard line Casey is taking at the moment.”
The workers felt deceived by the lack of consultation and updates since a re-structure was announced early this year, Mr Lockwood said.
“Some organisations do their restructures well, Casey is doing this really badly.
“It seems the employees are the last to find out, while the CEO and directors all locked in their positions mid-year.”
The employees are expected to hear their fate by 22 December.
“They’ve splashed out $130 million for a new civic centre and it’s all coming at a human cost – and it’s their own employees,” Mr Lockwood said.
“There’s never a good time for this but especially at Christmas time. Have a bit of compassion!”
Casey acting chief executive Sally Curtain said the council was “committed to finding a role for every redeployee”.
“Following a recruitment freeze over the past six months there are many more vacant roles than redeployees.”
Ms Curtain said Casey had embarked on a significant organisational change to ensure the “most effective and efficient” frontline services to the community.
“This carefully planned and staged major redesign is the first in 20 years and has been underway since January.
“Some roles in HACC Services have changed including the creation of additional positions to ensure compliance with new Federal Government requirements.”
It was also near the end of a three year Efficiency and Effectiveness program that made “significant” savings without cutting staff, she said.
