The head of the federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relationships has apologised for the way it treated its IT contractors, and has offered to rehire them.
The department dismissed 51 of its 300 contracted IT staff yesterday, in many cases giving them less than a day's notice.
But senior public servants within the portfolio are now ringing the affected workers to apologise for the way their contracts were handled.
The department's secretary, Lisa Paul, said the staff would be offered new jobs.
``I apologise for the way this has been handled,'' she said.
``The department will now contact all of the IT contractors concerned to discuss their individual circumstances and where appropriate, offer them re-employment.
``I am committed to ensuring the department looks after its valued staff as we continue to work through budget reductions.''
Some of the affected staff had worked at the department for years.
Several told The Canberra Times yesterday they were disgusted no one had bothered to tell them their contracts would end.
One programmer, who asked to remain unnamed, had said, ``This is the how the Workplace Relations Department treats its workers?''
The department is trying to cut $60 million from its operating costs in 2010-11, mostly by not replacing staff who retire or leave.
It said yesterday its decision to dismiss the contractors was part of its response to Sir Peter Gershon's 2008 report on IT spending.
Sir Peter's report recommended the public service halve the number of contractors it used over two years, and slowly build up its in-house technology expertise instead.
Source: The Canberra Times
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