Victorian council workers hold 24-hour stop work

Yesterday, 7 April, the Australian Services Union (ASU) announced industrial action across eight local government areas in Victoria to draw attention to “years of wages going backwards in real terms” and called for fair pay during such a period of soaring inflation.

According to the media release from the ASU, wages have dropped 7 to 12 per cent since 2021.

A stop work commenced across Merri-bek, Darebin and Hume waste collection services as more than 70 local government workers walked off the job, with parking enforcement pausing across Yarra, Maribyrnong, and Melbourne.

The ASU outlined that a 10 per cent wage increase in the first year and 4 per cent the year after will bring workers “back to where they would have been if pay had kept pace with the cost of living”, with the current average wage for a council worker at $70,000.

According to the ASU branch secretary for Victoria and Tasmania, Tash Wark, “workers cannot afford another pay cut”.

She said: “Council workers perform essential work that is invisible when it’s done well, but the public really notices when it stops.”

“Our members don’t want to be on strike, but they have been forced into this position because the state government and employers simply do not value their work.”

The ASU also highlighted how workers are being priced out of the communities they serve, with some forced to commute hours a day because they can no longer afford local rents.

As reported in Accountants Daily, this was also a point made by the Australian Council of Trade Unions in its submission to the select committee on the operation of the capital gains tax discount, where it called for a cut to CGT to make housing more affordable.

Wark said: “It’s a simple question of priorities: if the government can find money for politicians like councillors whose wages have gone up by over 10 per cent, they can find the money for the people who pick up the rubbish.”

“We urge the public who rely on the essential services that council provides, to demand that council invests in local government services and the people who provide them.”

The strike is just the latest in a string of industrial actions by various professions, including journalists from the ABC and technology workers from multiple major banks and several government agencies.

While local councils initially refused to meet with the ASU to negotiate wages, multi-employer bargaining is currently underway across Melbourne, Greater Dandenong, Darebin, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Maribyrnong, Merri-Bek, and Yarra.

Further impacts are expected across libraries and council services while the disputes continue.