The Communications and Public Sector Union (CPSU) claims to have been contacted by -dozens of deeply concerned staff", who say they were spammed this week with e-mails that used individuals' pay records to show how the new agreement would leave them financially better off.
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations' (DEWR) ballot for the proposed enterprise agreement will close July 19, with the Union encouraging staff to reject it on the basis that it delivers adverse pay and employment conditions.
Union official Jenness Gardner said staff were "outraged" by the unsolicited e-mails, which they considered to be an "invasion of privacy" and an "appalling misuse" of personal information.
-Their personal records have been accessed and used in a way they didn't think appropriate," Gardner told ZDNet Australia.
The mass mailout, she said, also went against the Department's own policy that this sort of information would be distributed on its intranet.
DEWR has struck back vehemently at the Union's allegations.
"There is no validity to the Union's claims at all," Craig Symon, general manager of DEWR's corporate division told ZDNet Australia.
In fact, he said, -we're meeting our obligations under the Workplace Relations Act".
"We as an employer have an obligation under the Act to advise employees what would happen if they voted yes."
According to Symon, whilst the messages detailed what employees' increase per annum would be, they didn't specify what pay rates individuals were on - merely listing the six different pay points within the Department.
"We know damn well that employees know what pay point they're on," Symon said. "To argue that this shows a breach under our privacy provision is absurd to the point of ridiculous."
Symon also refuted the Union's allegation that the Department had defected from its own policy to distribute information to employees via its intranet, saying it was -plainly false".
"As a matter of IT policy we've said we want to have one means of communicating with all staff," Symon said, pointing out that 'all staff e-mails' are not always necessary. Symon also stressed that on this particular occasion e-mails were issued to individual staff and not sent to an 'all staff' list.
"We still have the right to communicate with our individual staff," he said.
He conceded, however, that the e-mails in question would have been sent to over 1000 departmental workers.
When asked why this particular information wasn't displayed on the agency's intranet, Symon said the intranet tends not to be looked at by staff quite as often as e-mail.
"We're trying to change that," he said.
DEWR is adamant it won't be changing any if its practices, despite the Union's demand that it -cease and desist" with such e-mails.
"We certainly will not be complying with the Union's request to cease and desist," said Symon. -We don't accept we've done anything wrong."
The Federal Privacy Commissioner, Malcolm Crompton, issued the following statement: "The Privacy Act does not stop employers, be they public or private sector, from communicating with employees about matters relating to their employment relationship. Government agencies are bound by the Information Privacy Principles that require them to ensure they use personal information for the purpose for which it was obtained, or for purposes directly related. Clearly all organisations, public or private should ensure that there is a common understanding between them and their employees as to how organisations will use their personal information."
