Deloitte Consulting Australia has rejected a union demand to shelve plans to halve employee salaries, prompting further industrial action against the company.
The Community and Public Sector Union CPSU, which is representing the workers, said it will now take the matter to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), having had its proposal to suspend the plans pending negotiations with the union rejected.
According to the CPSU, Deloittes Consulting wants an estimated 600 employees to make a choice between taking a 52 percent pay cut or being made redundant
"We'll be seeking a direction from the commission that the requirement that employees respond to the company's request by September 6 be withdrawn and that the company enter into discussions with representatives employees to look at alternatives," said CPSU assistant secretary, Steven Jones.
The CPSU decided to make the application to the IRC after meeting with the Australian Services Union (ASU) and the Association of Professional Engineers Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) to discuss the matter this morning.
The union will try to convince the IRC to intervene on the grounds that the company's demands are "harsh, unfair and uncivil".
"They are applying unreasonable duress to their employees by threatening to terminate their employment if they don't sign the salary reduction contracts," said Jones.
Deloittes Consulting today defended the salary cuts. The company said it needs to bring its salaries in-line with labour market expectations in order to compete with other operations.
"We have carefully considered the proposals that the unions have put forward and we have decided that the proposals do not meet our existing business needs," said the company in statement issued today.
The industrial dispute has renewed fears that India's pool of low-wage, skilled IT-labour is threatening the livelihood of Australian IT workers.
According the CPSU, a source within Deloittes Consulting revealed to the union that the wage cuts were a response to increased competition from operations that outsource software development work to India. The source said two of the company's major software development outsourcing contracts with Telstra were in danger as a result.
Telstra is standing by its claim that it had no plans to replace its contracts with Deloittes Consulting.
