ATO staff may strike over hours hike

Australian Tax Office workers could go on strike if a plan to increase their working hours by nine minutes a day goes ahead.

Unions are threatening industrial action after the ATO floated the idea of employees knocking off at 5pm rather than 4.51pm, The Age reports.

Negligible pay rise offers were also expected to fuel union calls for strikes.

The extra nine minutes a day would see their working week extended from 36 hours and 45 minutes to 37.5 hours, or around three hours extra a month.

ASU tax branch secretary Jeff Lapidos said the extra hours would equate to stripping staff of the equivalent of a week's holidays every year.

"It's like asking people to work another five-and-a-third days a year," he told The Age.

The ATO, which is reported to have the shortest working week in the public service, will commence official bargaining with staff next Monday.

"We will be discussing a range of employment conditions as part of that process, but as part of our commitment to good faith bargaining we will not be publicly commenting on the negotiations prior to bargaining discussions," the ATO spokeswoman said.

Staff at the Defence Department and Geoscience Australia are also potentially facing a hike in working hours.

Source: The Age
Author: Matthew Henry. Approving editor: Simon Black.