Australia: Public servants to defy stop-work ruling
08 October 2012
Thousands of public servants across New South Wales in eastern Australia are set to defy an order by the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) and stop work for four hours on October 8, according to ABC News.
The IRC has directed the Public Service Association (PSA) to call off a mass meeting that is being held to discuss cuts to jobs and entitlements, and State Treasurer Mike Baird has backed the IRC's call.
"There will be disruption to the services of government and we don't think it is justified, certainly the independent umpire doesn't think it's justified," he says to ABC News.
John Cahil of PSA says that they do not lightly ignore the commission's rulings, but it is not possible to avert the action at such a late stage.
"The members are very, very angry about this and they wouldn't understand why after all the action the Government has taken against them, all the attacks on their jobs and the conditions on their wages, that at this late stage the Government now wants to prevent them meeting to even talk about these things," he said.