Child welfare workers strike over shortages

Pru Goward, the NSW minister for community services, has been caught lying about staffing shortages in her department.

Workers in the Department of Community Services, members of the Public Services Association, shone the spotlight on Goward’s lie when they walked out in stop-work actions across the state on Tuesday 20 August.

Goward has repeatedly claimed that there are more than 2,000 caseworkers across the state, despite now admitting that she received a report which detailed that the real figure is much lower. Striking workers in Parramatta carried placards representing those who had disappeared from the department, explaining that colleagues were not being replaced when they left the job or went on maternity leave. The remaining workers are left to pick up the slack.

The extra strain on the remaining caseworkers is taking its toll. “I’ve got a number of staff across the region that are really stressed, they’re hanging on by the skin of their teeth”, PSA spokesperson Steve Meares told the media.

Staff shortages are a chronic problem across the NSW public service, and with the government slashing a further 15,000 jobs, the problem will only get worse. The pressure on workers to do more with less is immense, and the government has shown a complete disregard for the services public servants provide.

This latest strike is a reminder of why the union campaign against staff and funding cuts needs to intensify in order to tackle the understaffing, overwork and insecurity that are daily life for NSW public servants.