Nathan Brunne knows his way around the tax code. In his call centre work, the 25-year-old can recall the correct section of the Australian Taxation Office’s policy manuals when speaking with the public, or helping colleagues.
“I’ve got a pretty photographic memory when it comes to that type of stuff,” says Brunne, who has worked on the ATO phone lines since 2022.
“It’s just that daily exposure; I can quote from law administration practice statements and recite specific subsections of legislation.”
“We are performing government work on a government contract. It feels as if I’m working for the ATO – except for the pay and conditions.”
He wants that to change.
Christmas closedown
Brunne is employed by the private equity-backed Probe Operations, one of three large operators that run outsource call centres for the ATO along with the Nasdaq-listed Concentrix Services and British multinational Serco.
He recently lodged a “same job, same pay” application with the Fair Work Commission (FWC), drawing on the Albanese government’s workplace reforms designed to stop employers using labour hire to pay workers less than direct employees.
Outsourced workers such as Brunne argue that despite sitting on the same phone lines as ATO call staff, and having the same duties, systems access and confidentiality requirements, the pay disparity, lack of training and inferior working conditions are extreme compared with the public service.
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For example, ATO call centre staff will enjoy a fully paid closedown period between Christmas and New Year with no leave deduction.
Probe staff will be required to use annual leave during the closedown, or, for newer workers without accrued time off, leave without pay, according to the company’s publicly available workplace agreement.
Starting pay rates at outsource centres tend to be about $52,800 a year, according to information provided by several current and former call centre staff at the three operators, compared with more than $72,000 for the ATO’s direct employees on the same phone lines.
Brunne says the idea to pursue a “same job, same pay” application was sparked by an order by the FWC in July for mining company BHP to boost the pay of thousands of subsidiary workers in line with direct employees.
“I thought about making the application for a while but I was wary of being adversarial,” says Brunne.
“But there are hundreds of workers here, and I just felt there needs to be more oversight and attention.”
‘Same job, same pay’
On 25 November, Brunne attended an initial hearing at the commission, representing himself. He is being supported by the Community and Public Sector Union, which has long campaigned against government outsourcing, and has joined the application.
Legal counsel for Probe, and the other outsource operators, Serco and Concentrix, also attended the virtual hearing, and will oppose Brunne. The ATO, which was represented at the hearing, is expected to side with the outsource operators, although it has not yet made its position clear.
Employment and industrial lawyer Julian Arndt says the Labor reforms were brought in so that employees and unions could disrupt large corporations in industries such as aviation and mining, which have used outsourced labour models to pay workers less.
“I don’t think it was broadly anticipated that these provisions would be turned on the government’s own arrangements involving their outsourced services,” says Arndt, from Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors.
“If successful, the case certainly has the potential to influence the viability of many outsourced government service arrangements. If private operators were required to pay the same rate as the public service, it begs the question: why would the government continue to outsource? Obviously that will have cost consequences for everyone.”
The ATO is particularly reliant on outsource call centres, but other government agencies, including Centrelink and the National Disability Insurance Agency, also use them.
The legal argument will turn on whether the ATO’s use of outsourced centres is an attempt to access cheap labour or a genuine arrangement to deliver a service.
That question partly relies on how much the job functions and systems overlap between the ATO and the contracted firms.
A spokesperson for the ATO said it would be inappropriate to comment on the application. Probe declined to comment.
Arndt says the commission’s assessment will be fascinating for outsourcing arrangements more broadly, given their use across large companies, including banks, utilities, insurers and telcos.
Shadow workforce
Brunne’s application comes amid a period of increased scrutiny on outsourced government work and its pitfalls.
Last financial year, the ATO spent $379m on external workforce undertaking core work, according to information provided to a Senate economics committee.
An October report by the tax ombudsman found that 76% of ATO call centre officers had been in their roles for more than 12 months. This compares with 44% at outsource centres, which have high turnover rates and contractor changes.
Guardian Australia has spoken to more than a dozen current and former workers at the ATO’s outsource call centres who say they get very limited training before being put on phone lines and expected to meet high call volumes, all while receiving low pay.
It means call centre workers with several years experience, like Brunne, are rare at outsource centres, frustrating the public and tax agents who must often engage with inexperienced staff.
Brunne says he’d like to see that change, through better pay and conditions for workers.
“It was my first full-time job, and I’ve stuck at it, but I think I’m the only one from my starting group still here,” says Brunne.
“It about people’s livelihoods; they have rent to pay. That’s one of the things that has pushed me to do this. There needs to be more fairness in the system.”
Do you know more? Contact jonathan.barrett@theguardian.com