Community and Public Sector Union and Civil Service association staff Michelle Sheehy and Scott Faircloug with the survival packs.
Camera IconCommunity and Public Sector Union and Civil Service association staff Michelle Sheehy and Scott Faircloug with the survival packs. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Union ups queues anti

Rachel Fenner, Mandurah Coastal TimesMandurah Coastal Times

Community and Public Sector Union and Civil Service association staff handed out the packs.

The packs contained a bottle of water, biscuits and puzzles.

Union staff said the causes of the delays were a lack of front-counter staff.

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Branch secretary Toni Walkington said customer service officers were subject to abuse and had things thrown at them.

‘Last August we called for an additional 32 customer service officers to be employed to fill major gaps across the metropolitan area but any attempt by the Department of Transport to fix the problem has not had any impact,’ Ms Walkington said.

‘Customers are becoming increasingly frustrated by the lengthy delays that are not acceptable.

‘Our members should not be put in a situation where they are feeling the full force of customer anger because the Government can’t invest in enough staff to meet community demand.’

The Department of Transport was aware that the Civil Service Association intended to visit Driver and Vehicle Service centres to distribute material to customers.

A spokeswoman said the department did not provide permission for such actions to be carried out in the boundaries of departmental facilities.

The right to entry provision of the Public Service Award 1992 did not cover these actions.

‘The department prides itself on providing excellent customer service,’ she said.

‘This is an ongoing discussion. The department has appointed an additional 27 customer service officers in the last six months.’

The spokeswoman said the union members would interfere with the operations of the centre including the flow of customers in car park areas and entrances.

Ms Walkington said it was unrealistic for customers to wait over an hour if they went to the centre on a lunch break or parents had to look after children.

‘Putting on additional staff is the only answer and by that we don’t mean putting on labour hire people on short-term contracts ” that is only a Band- Aid measure with no long-term benefit,’ she said.