Privacy statement

The CPSU is one of the largest and most active trade unions in Australia. In the course of its activities it collects a variety of personal information. In accordance with the National Privacy Principles (NPPs) of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988, the CPSU has prepared the following Privacy Policy Statement outlining its policy and practice in relation to its management of the personal information it collects.

CPSU Privacy Policy and CPSU website privacy statement

Information collected
Use and disclosure
Data quality
Data security
Openness
Access and correction
Identifiers
Anonymity
Transborder data flows
Sensitive information
Complaints handling
Who to contact

CPSU website privacy statement

Information collected

Personal information is collected from individuals who join the CPSU for the following purposes:

• Membership management
• Provision of member services such as:
  • industrial representation
  • education, insurance and financial services

The type of personal information collected is varied. On joining the CPSU a membership form is completed which contains basic personal information, such as name, address, contact details, qualifications, method of payment and other details relevant to the maintenance of membership records and collection of union dues.

In addition, during their membership, a member may need the assistance of the union to deal with grievances. In those circumstances, further personal information may be collected for the purposes of industrial representation.

A member may also become active in the CPSU, in which case, the union will collect additional information (such as committees on which the member has participated) relevant to the member's activism.

In the course of its recruitment activity the union may collect personal information about non-members. This will only be done with the consent of the non-member.

The above material is collected in two forms:

• Paper based files, generally dealing with industrial representation issues such as grievances
• Electronically on:
  • Membership database (membership records)
  • RecFind (the records management/archival database)
  • Industrial database (case management of individual industrial issues)
  • Payment reports database (management of payment of union fees)
  • Organisers/officials' databases

The union also collects information about its employees and officials for the purposes of managing its own human resources. This information is not used for any purposes other than the management of the employment relationship and comes within the relevant exemption in the NPPs.

Use and disclosure

The CPSU only uses the personal information it collects for membership management, industrial representation and the provision of related services.

The CPSU does not disclose an individual's personal information to anyone outside the union unless:

• The individual consents
• It is required or authorised by law (eg the Workplace Relations Act 1996 requires disclosure in certain circumstances, including union elections. Material, such as witness statements, may also be used and disclosed for the purposes of legal proceedings).

Data quality

The CPSU takes all reasonable steps to ensure the information it collects is accurate, up-to-date and complete by regular contact with its members.

The CPSU's Trade Union Disposal Guide ensures that personal information collected is archived and/or disposed of in a timely and appropriate manner.

Data security

The CPSU collects personal information in two forms

• Paper based files; and
• Electronically

Current paper files containing personal information are securely stored.

Archived material is stored in closed archives at the Australian National University.

Electronically-stored information is password protected. Access to the Membership database and RecFind is on a strictly need-to-know basis, as determined by relevant elected officials.

Additional security codes are assigned to records containing personal information on RecFind.

Personal information is generally not to be taken from CPSU offices. However, if an official/organiser of the union is required to take such information out of the office (e.g. workplace visit), the official/organiser is required to keep it securely stored.

The CPSU's Trade Union Disposal Guide ensures that personal information collected is archived and/or disposed of securely and appropriately.

Locked bins are available in each union office for the purposes of security shredding.

The CPSU website does not send cookies to individuals browsing the site.

Openness

Prospective and new members are provided with information about the union's Privacy Policy and contact details should they have a grievance or query about the handling of their information.

If requested by a person, the CPSU will provide them with a copy of its Privacy Policy.

Access and correction

If an individual so requests, they may access the information held about them by the union.

This access would only be limited if:

• required by law; or
• the information might impact on the privacy of other individuals; or
• the request was considered frivolous or vexatious; or
• the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between the individual and the organisation; or
• it contains commercially-sensitive information.

A request will be acknowledged within 14 days.

A decision about access will be given within 30 days.

If access is denied the CPSU will give the requestor reasons for the denial.

If a person establishes that the information held is incomplete, incorrect or out-of-date, the CPSU will take reasonable steps to correct that information.

All requests for access to individual records should be directed at first instance to the CPSU Privacy Officer.

Identifiers

The CPSU records some members' employee numbers on its membership system. This information is required by individual Commonwealth agencies for the purposes of organising payroll deductions. The CPSU does not adopt or use the number as its own identifier.

Anonymity

Where individuals contact the union with information relevant to an industrial matter of concern to the individual and the CPSU, and they do not wish to be identified, the union undertakes to ensure they remain anonymous.

Transborder data flows

The CPSU does not transfer personal information outside Australia.

Sensitive information

The fact of a person's trade union membership is sensitive information for the purpose of the NPPs. The CPSU therefore does not disclose information of this fact without the individual member's consent.

Complaints handling

If a person thinks the CPSU has interfered with their privacy, he or she will at first instance be directed to the union employee/official responsible. That is, if it relates to a membership matter, to the Members Service Centre. If it relates to an individual case, to the organiser or official handling the case.

If this does not resolve the issues, the matter will then be referred to the CPSU Privacy Officer who will investigate the claim and provide a response and reasons to the person.

The person, if still unsatisfied, may then complain to the Privacy Commissioner. Alternatively, the person may complain at the first instance to the Privacy Commissioner.

The Privacy Commissioner will then undertake an investigation.

All contacts from the Privacy Commissioner must be directed to the National Secretary and CPSU Privacy Officer.

The Privacy Officer will then investigate the matter and, after discussion with the National Secretary, provide a response to the Privacy Commissioner. The Privacy Commissioner may (or may not) try to conciliate the matter. If that is successful, and/or the Privacy Commissioner is satisfied that there has been no breach of the Privacy Act 1988, he will write to the complainant and the CPSU and advise that no further action is being taken.

Alternatively, if the Privacy Commissioner concludes that there has been a breach of the Act, he may make a formal determination to this effect and make recommendations. He may also award compensation to the complainant.

Failure to follow/abide by the Privacy Commissioner's determination may result in Federal Court action being taken against the CPSU. The Federal Court is empowered to enforce the determination.

The Privacy Commissioner can also investigate an act or practice that may be a breach of privacy even if there is no complaint (see section 40(2) of the Privacy Act 1988). If this is the case, again the matter must be referred to the National Secretary.

Who to contact

Any privacy related questions are to be directed to the CPSU Privacy Officer, Level 6, 191 Thomas Street, Sydney

CPSU website privacy statement

This privacy statement applies to the website known as the Community and Public Sector Union, with a home page address of www.cpsu.org.au The Community and Public Sector Union is the sole owner of the information collected on the Community and Public Sector Union website.

Purpose of the privacy statement

The purpose of this statement is to let you know what information is collected about you when you visit the Community and Public Sector Union website, how this information is used, to whom it is disclosed, and your ability to have any incorrect personal information amended.

Our goal is to provide you with a satisfying experience while allowing you to control your privacy and to give you a means to voice any questions or concerns you may have.

Commitment to privacy

The Community and Public Sector Union is strongly committed to protecting your privacy while interacting with our site. We want to provide a safe and secure environment for both adults and children.

Information is collected from you primarily to make it easier and more rewarding for you to use our services. Depending on the service you are accessing, you could be asked to provide information such as your name, email address or information about what you like and do not like.

It is entirely your choice whether to respond to these questions or not. We will only use any personal information you have chosen to provide us for the purpose for which you provided it. We will not use it for any other purpose without your consent.

The information collected

The Community and Public Sector Union collects two types of information.

The first type is anonymous information. The web server managed by Alpha.Net makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes. the user's server address, the user's top level domain name (eg. com, .gov, .net, .nz, etc.), the date and time of the visit to the site, the pages accessed and documents downloaded, the previous site visited, and the type of browser used.

No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the internet service provider's logs.

The second type of information that the Community and Public Sector Union collects is personal information. Personal information is requested in order to provide personalised and enhanced services that are not available to anonymous users. Personal information requested in this site includes:

• email address: We will record your email address if you send us a message, subscribe to an email newsletter, or complete a form this information is requested. If subscribing to an email newsletter you may unsubscribe at any time from the newsletter mailing list. email addresses will not be added to any other mailing lists. We will not disclose your email address without your consent unless required to by law.
  
• name and address: The site includes forms where name and address is requested. In these cases personal details are required to enable subsequent contact with you and/or to enable authentication of the information provided.

If you ask a question we may publish your question and the answer to your question under the appropriate FAQ on this website. But we will not publish your personal details with this questions and answer.

We will not collect or solicit personal information via this site which would be unlawful, unnecessary or unrelated to the functions or activities of the Community and Public Sector Union or unfair or unreasonably intrusive. Because there are risks associated with using the Internet as a transmission medium, when we use electronic forms to collect information we will also provide you with other options for providing the information - for example, a PDF form to download, a mailing address or a telephone contact.

When interacting with Community and Public Sector Union, using applications such as forums, we suggest that you use your discretion and exercise caution when providing your personal information. Note that whenever you post personal information in publicly accessible places, such as forums, this information becomes available to anyone with access to the internet. If you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Therefore, we recommend that you refrain from posting any information that you do not want seen in these public areas. For example, when participating in a forum, your name will appear on the message board. If you do not want your real name to appear use a false name but do not under any circumstances use somebody else's name.

Use of cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. Cookies are not used on this site.

How information is used

There may be occasions where it will be necessary for the Community and Public Sector Union to disclose your personal information to third parties. The Community and Public Sector Union may be required by law to disclose the information, or may be required to disclose your personal information to third parties to provide the service you have requested. For example, if you purchase products online from the Community and Public Sector Union, the Community and Public Sector Union will need to disclose your personal information to third parties in order to authorise and process credit card transactions. Under no circumstances will Community and Public Sector Union sell or receive payment for licensing or disclosing your personal information.

Commitment to data security

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that all information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, up-to-date and stored in a secure environment accessed only by authorised persons. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from our website. These activities are conducted at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security.

How users can access and correct their personal information

If the Community and Public Sector Union holds your personal information, the Community and Public Sector Union will where possible provide you with access to the information. We will take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up to date. To request any corrections please contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below.

Links to other sites

This Privacy Statement applies only to the Community and Public Sector Union and not to other companies' or organisations' websites to which it is linked. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information.

How to contact us

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at:

• Phone: 1300 137 636
• Fax: 1300 137 646
• Email: members@cpsu.org.au
• Postal Address: 5/191-199 Thomas Street, Haymarket, NSW, 2000
• website URL: www.cpsu.org.au

Future updates to the Community and Public Sector Union's privacy policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

What else you should know about privacy

Remember to close your browser and log-out of your internet connection when you have finished your session. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe. You as an individual are responsible for the security of and access to your own computer.