Worker at Australian Taxation Office call centre takes court action demanding ‘same job, same pay’

Nathan Brunne, a worker on the ATO phone lines employed by Probe Operations has applied to the Fair Work Commission for a ‘same job, same pay’ order. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

A worker at one of the Australian Taxation Office’s outsourced call centres is pursuing a “same job, same pay” order that threatens to unravel the agency’s extensive use of third-party contractors.

The Fair Work Commission application comes amid heightened scrutiny of the ATO’s use of for-profit call centres, where workers have complained about low pay, poor conditions, insufficient training and extreme staff turnover rates.