AUSTRALIAN Services Union members stopped work for three hours on Tuesday morning as part of industrial action in a campaign for better wages and conditions from Macedon Ranges Shire Council.
The industrial action included workers abstaining from street sweeping, picking up litter around council buildings and mowing grass near the entrances to towns across the shire.
Workers also put campaign signs on council vehicles and wore union badges instead of their usual council-issued name badges.
Sticking points in negotiations between the workers and council include what the union called a low pay offer, as well as a claim for extending a phone allowance to casual workers.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council management offered a pay increase that Australian Services Union secretary Lisa Darmanin said fell below changes in the cost of living at two per cent in the first year of the agreement and 1.85 per cent in the second.
During the last 12 months the cost of living has increased by 6.1 per cent in Australia according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ consumer price index.
Ms Darmanin said union members took industrial action when council rejected their claims.
“Members of the Australian Services Union want to finalise enterprise agreement negotiations, but they are determined to get a fair pay rise and better treatment for casual workers,” she said.
“Workers at Macedon Ranges Shire are struggling with the increased cost of living like everyone else, and the current pay offer from Macedon Ranges management isn’t good enough.
“Workers at Macedon Ranges Shire are just looking for a fair day’s pay to accompany the fair day’s work they put in collecting bins, looking after parks, and the hundreds of other jobs that keep the shire running.
“Macedon Ranges management can avoid highly disruptive industrial action by making a fair pay offer and recognising the cost for casuals of using their personal phones for work.”
Council corporate director Adele Drage-Stevens said the rapidly inflating consumer price index, CPI, and a State Government cap on rates made negotiating a pay raise with union members difficult.
“CPI is over six per cent, which council recognises is a significant challenge for cost of living for our staff as well as for council’s service delivery costs, which are increasing rapidly, placing further pressure across the entire council budget,” she said.
“The current offer to staff is a two per cent increase or $27 per week in year one, followed by 1.85 per cent or $26 per week in the remaining three years, or 80 per cent of the rate cap.
“It should be noted that the current council rate cap is 1.75%, as set by the Victorian Government for 2022/23. If the rate cap was increased or removed by the State Government, it would provide more flexibility to council to negotiate the offer with staff.
“It is important to recognise that council is still at the table negotiating in good faith and has sought a response from the unions and staff representatives on this offer.”
The measures taken by the Australian Services Union members are part of protected industrial action under the Fair Work Act 2009.
