Union News

Unions NSW has accused the Premier of unfairly intimidating the Government's own workforce by threatening to outsource the jobs of workers who take industrial action.

When asked about Sydney Water employers who are considering industrial action, the Premier told a news conference yesterday:

"Be careful about what you're doing, because if the private sector can deliver it at a better standard or the same standard at a cheaper price we are duty bound as a Government to consider that.

"Don't engage in industrial thuggery and think there are no consequences."

Unions NSW Secretary, Mark Lennon, said the Premier's comments were deeply inappropriate.

"For the Premier to threaten the Government's own workforce in this way amounts to an extraordinary case of intimidation," Mr Lennon said.

"The right to strike is a basic democratic freedom, but apparently Barry O'Farrell thinks it should be denied to NSW public sector workers.

"If the Premier wants evidence of industrial thuggery, he should examine the conduct of his own Government.

"Just last week, riot police were sent in to potentially bust up a community picket of local residents opposed to the partial closure of Grafton Gaol. That's real thuggery.

"This Premier has lost perspective. His Government lacks the intellectual rigour to properly engage with its own workforce, resorting instead to cheap insults and threats."