Media Release: Auslan interpreters have had enough of the talk

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday, 26 July 2024

Auslan interpreters at the National Relay Service will vote in a ballot on whether to take protected industrial action after negotiations with their employer Concentrix, failed to make any significant progress after nine months of talks.

The National Relay Service is provided by the Australian Government to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The National Relay Service employs Auslan interpreters who, via video call to help their clients communicate in a wide range of circumstances. These include basic tasks like accessing medical, legal, and government services to emergency situations and calling Triple Zero.

Staff are employed under individual contracts by the company, Concentrix, which currently holds the contract to provide the National Relay Service on behalf the Australian Government.

The National Relay Service can offer a level of secure work that is hard to find in this sector. Auslan interpreters seek an Enterprise Agreement to secure conditions and entitlements that professionals in other domains currently enjoy - such as basic annual wage increases.

Scott Crawford, Victorian Director of The interpreters' union, Professionals Australia said National Relay Staff have been in negotiations with Concentrix over their enterprise bargaining agreement since September 2023, with very little progress being made.

"Our members have been in enterprise bargaining negotiations with Concentrix for over nine months now and no agreement has been reached on wages or conditions.

"We have made 14 specific claims and Concentrix has not given us their position on any one of them, including their position on wage increases.

"As a result, in addition to lodging two grievances against Concentrix for failing to bargain in good faith, we have now been approved by the Fair Work Commission to undertake a protected industrial action ballot. The ballot is currently open and the vote will conclude on 16 August.

Scott Crawford, said that the Auslan interpreters of the National Relay Service were closely aligned with the communities they served and did not take the decision to pursue protected industrial action lightly.

"Auslan interpreters often come from deaf families themselves and have a close relationship with the communities they serve.

"While they do not take this decision to pursue protected industrial action lightly, with negotiations over pay and working conditions showing only scant progress, they feel they have been left with little choice."

Professionals Australia said that this current situation was emblematic of the predicament of translators and interpreters across Australia.

"Work as a translator or interpreter in Australia is characterised by insecure work, low pay and poor working conditions. Interpreters typically have very low job security and are often not compensated or reimbursed for work-related costs like travel time, phone and internet expenses.

"Translators and interpreters are underpaid and undervalued. Given the critical role they play in ensuring that all Australians can communicate and access the important medical, health and legal services they need, we need to see translating and interpreting for what it actually is - a valuable profession that plays a vital role in connecting our community, and compensate it accordingly."

The results of the protected action ballot of National Relay Service Auslan interpreters will be available on 16 August.

Media contact: Darren Rodrigo - 0414 783 405

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.