Council workers to walk off over pay stalemate

Victorian local government workers are intensifying their industrial action as pay negotiations remain deadlocked after six months of bargaining.

Following previous coverage surrounding the council worker strike on the Victorian state budget disclosure, in which more than 1,000 local government workers from eight Melbourne councils held a 24-hour strike against further real wage cuts, Victorian local government workers are set to strike again on Wednesday, 17 June, as six months pass without a single pay offer.

More than 1,500 Victorian local government workers are expected to walk off the job, frustrated by no pay offer, despite over half a year of negotiations.

Union members from eight inner-city councils will strike to protest both stagnant wages and a decade of restrictive state rate-capping.

Melbourne, Greater Dandenong, Darebin, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Maribyrnong, Merri-bek, and Yarra will strike together for a second time, for up to 24 hours, kicking off with a march from Trades Hall to Parliament House to demand action from the state government.

Similar to the previous strike, it will bring significant disruption to garbage collection, library services, road maintenance, and other local government services across the affected councils.

Regarding the issues, Australian Services Union (ASU) Victoria and Tasmania branch secretary Tash Wark said: “It’s been six months and still not a single pay offer.”

“Our members have been patient, they have bargained in good faith, and councils have given them nothing.

“It’s not good enough for councils to point the finger at the state government and the state government to point it back at councils. What workers need is a fair pay raise, not a blame game.”

In what has been a rather tumultuous past two months between council workers and the Victorian government, Wark has continued to reinforce the necessity for council members to go on strike.

As formerly stated by Wark: “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.”

It was reported that ASU showed that workers were being priced out of the communities they serve, with some forced to commute hours a day, due to local rental prices being too expensive.

“Frontline council workers are falling further behind every single month. They’re up to 12 per cent behind in real terms since 2021,” Wark said.

“They’re tightening budgets, watching colleagues unable to afford housing or put petrol in the car just to go to work, and waiting for councils to take this seriously, but sadly, their employer is yet to do so.”

As previously reported, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed that workers’ and unions’ right to strike is protected under International Labour Organization Convention No. 87 on freedom of association.

The court held that the right to strike is an essential aspect of workers being able to organise and defend their interests collectively.

The ICJ’s decision was a significant boost for unions because it strengthened their notion that the right to strike is not merely a privilege granted by governments, but a fundamental labour right recognised under international law.

“We are calling on councils to stop hiding behind rate capping and start standing up for the workers delivering essential services in every suburb of this city,” Wark said.

“They cannot pretend they’re negotiating in good faith while they’re doing nothing effective to offer meaningful wage increases to workers.”

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