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The mayor presiding over the Shoalhaven City Council has rejected the claims of the United Services Union (USU) that the council was “sacking one in five staff”.
Mayor Patricia White has hit back at the USU, which released a media statement last Friday (13 June), claiming that the Shoalhaven City Council was planning to “sack one in five of its staff, up to 110 people” under a plan that the union argued was “rammed” through the council.
The union suggested that White originally assured that the jobs were safe back in December but is now moving to cut over 100 jobs.
“The mayor has been telling Shoalhaven council staff their positions are safe, and now she moves to sack them, it’s just unbelievable,” said Stuart Geddes, a representative from the USU.
“I’ve had members on the phone to me in tears, one said to me [that] if she loses her job, she’ll have to live in her car with two kids in the middle of winter. Our members are already under strain due to lack of resourcing and understaffing.
“The cost-of-living crisis is biting, and now they’re being told one in five are on the chopping block. And this is happening while the mayor, councillor Patricia White, is taking council-funded trips to Orange to hob-nob with other politicians instead of rolling up her sleeves and solving problems in her community.”
In a statement, White rejected the union’s claims, lamenting the process of their media release, arguing that the redundancies were “old news”.
“As mayor of the Shoalhaven, I cannot believe that the unions would put a media release out on a Friday afternoon stating that Shoalhaven Council was cutting jobs and alarming employees and their families. This is old news, as in late 2024, following the elections, they ran the same stories,” White said.
“Obviously, it is a slow news day. I can confirm that council continues to work on the financial sustainability project that we have implemented since the 2024 elections.
“Council has a plan that has been shared with staff, residents and community in an open and transparent way and continues to work with councillors, staff and the independent finance committee on implementation.”
In a previous statement given to HR Leader, a council spokesperson touched on the finance committee that White referred to, stating that they provided a number of suggestions in relation to cutting employee costs.
“The Finance Review Panel provided several suggestions for a financial metric related to employee costs. These were documented in the 20 May 2025 and 28 May 2025 meeting minutes presented to council on Tuesday night (10 June).
“The panel ultimately recommended a target by which ‘employee costs per capita to be a maximum of 20 per cent higher than the average of other Group 5 Councils by the end of 2026/27’.”
White called on the unions and other councillors to “tell the truth”, stating that her door is “always open” to meet and discuss these matters.
“The mayor’s office is always open to meet with the union to discuss any matters, and I issue an open invitation to Stuart Geddes or others. It is time for the truth that we are not cutting 100 to 500 jobs,” said White.
Kace O'Neill
Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.
