Industrial action by Department of Human Services staff designed to ramp up pressure over debt clawback system and not legitimate enterprise bargaining, claims government.
Centrelink will front the industrial tribunal on Friday morning, trying to stop its public servants from embarking on a six-day campaign of micro-strikes between February 15 and February 24.
The Fair Work Commission will hear an application in Canberra on Friday from the giant Department of Human Services to rule planned industrial action by workers at Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support illegal.
Centrelink is warning customers of disruption next week as public servants at the welfare agency prepare for days of strike action over a three-year pay dispute and the controversial "robo-debt" program.
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But the department's main workplace union, the CPSU, says public servants trying to resolve disputes caused by Centrelink's controversial "robo-debt" recovery policy will not be walking off the job.
Centrelink staff are planning to use a Senate inquiry into the automated debt recovery system to highlight the level of dysfunction within the Department of Human Services, according to the Community and Public Sector Union.
A motion referring the controversial system to the Senate’s community affairs references committee passed on Wednesday afternoon, as expected, with the support of Labor, the Greens and the crossbench.
Labor and the Greens are set to force a Senate inquiry into Centrelink's controversial automated debt recovery system, an issue that had dogged the federal government for more than two months.
The Senate will vote on a motion to establish a wide-ranging probe on Wednesday as the government continues to defend data-matching of records held by government agencies to recover millions in overpayments to welfare recipients.
Centrelink staff will launch two weeks of rolling industrial action from February 13 in response to the Government’s controversial debt-recovery scheme.
The ABC understands the strike action is expected to result in delays at Centrelink offices and call centres across Australia, but those working on robot-debt calls will be exempt.
Centrelink staff will launch two weeks of targeted industrial action over the Turnbull government’s “ideological attack” on the Department of Human Services.
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CPSU spokesman Dermot Browne said the government was warned “years ago” by union members that the automated debt system was going to backfire, but pushed ahead anyway.
Staff in the Department of Human Services including Centrelink workers are planning six days of rolling strikes over a stalled enterprise bargaining process and the auto-debt recovery program, according to the Community and Public Sector Union.
The union said Centrelink, Medicare and child support workers would strike and take other forms of industrial action at various times and various locations starting on 13 February.
Australians are being warned to expect delays across Centrelink, Medicare and child support services for most of next week.
The Department of Human Services confirmed some staff will be taking industrial action next Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Centrelink's controversial debt-recovery program will be investigated by a Senate committee to determine why thousands of Australians were incorrectly told they needed to repay money.
