Contractors on $1,900 an Hour

Public Transport Victoria is cutting a whopping 37% of its staff while the number of highly paid executives remains the same.

When it was formed in April, 34 of PTV’s 665 staff were Executive Officers earning between $182,000 and $240,000 each a year.

A new structure issued to staff shows at least 37% fewer employees – down to 450 – but exactly the same number of executives.

“If executive staff faced the same sort of cut there’d be 13 less of them and enough money for the jobs of 50 people facing the sack.”

PTV staff had been assured by the CEO that they would be no worse off as a result of the machinery of government transfer. The cuts are being promoted as saving money, increasing efficiency and reducing bureaucracy to supposedly improve public transport and infrastructure.

The Premier had promised no public service sackings would occur and these jobs are on top of the 4200 announced so far in a massive breach of the pre election commitment.

The staff actually at risk are front line customer service staff, those working on accessibility projects for the elderly and people with a disability, staff in regional Victoria and planners focusing on bus services.

Employees transferred to PTV in April who missed out on the public service pay rise and haven’t had a rise since October 2010, have now been told they won’t see any new pay for at least three years as PTV has no intention of bargaining for a new agreement until next year.

“While our members are denied their pay rise and face a rocky future with the prospect of no job for several hundred of them, executives are secure and contractors are receiving payments of $1900 an hour.”

Jesus wouldn’t attract that hourly rate for a miracle.”
 

JIM WALTON

Victorian Assistant Branch Secretary