Union warns of 700 frontline jobs 'axed' at TAFE NSW

THE NSW GOVERNMENT is slashing nearly 700 frontline TAFE NSW jobs, leaving campuses across the state unworkable and creating the conditions for a privatisation fire sale, according to the Community Public Sector Union of NSW (CPSU NSW).

TAFE NSW has advised the union of two major restructures which will see 10 percent of educational support jobs go. Restructures in student services and facilities management and logistics cut 678 positions, including 470 regional jobs.

"Gladys Berejiklian and Dominic Perrottet are deliberately dismantling TAFE NSW to ready it for sale," said Stewart Little, general secretary of the CPSU NSW.

"They're helpfully trimming it down for future corporate buyers to come in and snap it up in another NSW assets fire sale.

"What do the people of NSW get from this gutting of critical training infrastructure? Fewer jobs and a hobbled education system. In the middle of the worst economic downturn that the state has seen in a generation the Berejiklian government is closing pathways to prosperity."

The jobs cuts include people who work directly with students, such as student advisors, customer support officers, field officers, VET fee help coordinators, help desk operators, marketing and promotions support officers.

Workers who maintain the campuses are also going, including: gardeners, caretakers, facilities officers, tradespersons, tool store persons, security officers,  asset and fleet control managers, and site services assistants.

"The union will be fighting these job cuts at every stage. TAFE NSW is a vital piece of infrastructure that must remain in public hands, not dismantled for private operators."

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