MEDIA RELEASE: 100 TRANSPORT WORKERS FACE THREAT OF SACK

Wednesday November 2, 2011

PARRAMATTA HIT BY O'FARRELL JOB CUTS

100 TRANSPORT WORKERS FACE THREAT OF SACK

More than 100 workers at the Parramatta office of Transport for NSW face the threat of the axe with the O'Farrell Government moving to purge dozens of positions, Opposition Leader John Robertson said on a visit to Parramatta today.

Up to 100 Parramatta workers have been forced to compete in a "spill and fill" for ongoing jobs – with about 20 positions deleted. Another 55 workers have been temporarily shunted this week to the new Roads and Maritime Services department – and their future remains under a cloud.   

"Barry O'Farrell vowed to bulldoze 5000 jobs in the State Budget. We now know 200 Transport for NSW workers – including dozens at Parramatta – are among his first victims," Mr Robertson said.

"These job cuts are a dagger aimed at the heart of Parramatta. Transport for NSW employs about 150 people in Parramatta. Axing dozens of staff from one of Parramatta's largest employers will have negative multiplier effects across the city's retail and hospitality sectors. The effect of these job cuts will seep across Parramatta like a slow-acting poison.

"Remember that Barry O'Farrell never campaigned on a platform of cutting public sector jobs. He said NSW would need more public sector workers, not less. Every single one of these job cuts represents the ultimate broken promise – because there is nothing more fundamental to a person's life than having a job.

"Thanks to Barry O'Farrell, more than 100 Parramatta workers go home every night with the threat of an axe hanging over their head. Some have been shunted temporarily into a new Department, while up to 100 have been forced to compete in a "spill and fill" for around 20 less positions.

"These are men and women with families and mortgages – their next few months will be spent mired in uncertainty and sleepless nights.

"Several of the axed positions were responsible for managing the School Student Transport Scheme. The Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme – accessed by many elderly and disabled people who are unable to board public transport – is another service that will be hit.

"No cuts are ever painless – but these ones will impact heavily on processing and response times for services used by the most vulnerable in our community.

"Yet again Geoff Lee has failed to stand up for Parramatta. Mr Lee's failure to talk Barry O'Farrell out of these cuts is a betrayal that his electorate will long remember."