Still 40 displaced TAFE officers

By Linda Simon

Over a year since the restructure of TAFE and the Department of Education and Training commenced, there are still over 40 TAFE TA members without jobs.

At this stage, Federation has asked the Department to ensure that it readvertises all vacant jobs at Phase 8 before moving on to external advertising. By the end of August, displaced officers will also receive an offer of voluntary redundancy if they have applied for one and if the Department decides that their services are no longer needed. All displaced officers should have been contacted with the name of their case manager, who will assist them in working out what the future might hold.

If you are one of these TAFE displaced officers, and need further union support, you should contact the TAFE TA Secretary as a matter of urgency. Federation continues to meet with the Department on a fairly regular basis and will continue to represent all concerns.

At the same time, Federation knows that there are some categories of employees with limited opportunities. For example, there have been very few Educational Officer (EO) positions created in the new structure.

The issues around budgets to support displaced officers and for retraining purposes, have been raised with TAFE, and Federation is waiting a response.

TAFE centres and units are already indicating that they are overworked, and without sufficient staff including administrative and clerical staff, will find it difficult to meet all commitments. Campaigning to address this undermining of TAFE must continue.

Linda Simon is TAFE TA Secretary.

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August 2004 contents