Industrial disputes & news - 19 February 2025
CSL, Tomago; Maurice Blackburn; City of Bendigo; Sydney Trains; Serco; NSW nurses; NOV; Brisbane City Council; VIC mental health nurses; Central Highlands Regional Council; LGH; & CFMEU
AMWU/CPSU/ETU/UWU Victoria - CSL
Workers at CSL took strike action last Thursday (13/2). Workers have been in negotiations of over a year and are seeking a fair deal - wages to keep up with the cost of living, improved conditions and job security.
AWU NSW - Tomago
Workers at Tomago aluminium smelter commenced a series of 30 minute stoppages last week. Workers are seeking annual wage increases of 4%, two $1000 signing bonuses and back pay. State Secretary of the AWU Tony Callinan acknowledged that with Trump’s tariff threat, now wasn’t a great time for industrial action, but hoped the dispute would be wrapped up quickly. Given industrial action commenced almost a month ago, I’m not sure how likely that is.
ASU - Maurice Blackburn
More industrial action at Maurice Blackburn has taken place with workers walking off the job yesterday afternoon (18/2). Workers are fighting for a fair deal and 10 days of reproductive health leave.
ANMF Victoria - Greater City of Bendigo
Maternal and child health nurses and immunisation nurses at the Greater City of Bendigo commenced industrial action on Friday (14/2). Nurses will be wearing campaign t-shirts, talking about the dispute with parents and community members and implementing bans on overtime, administrative tasks and booking appointments (usually done by admin staff). Nurses will also only be working rostered hours. Nurses are seeking a 10% pay increase over 3 years; and a 2.5% career structure increase in 2026. While the Council has agreed to the 10% increase, they have rejected workers’ claim for an additional week of annual leave (industry standard) and an additional 30 minutes to complete administrative tasks. Despite rejecting an offer in December, the City of Bendigo is putting another agreement out to ballot which closes at 4pm today. The ANMF is recommending a NO vote. Other council employees who are ASU members are currently voting on taking industrial action as their negotiations have also soured with the Council.
CRU - Sydney Trains
The dispute at Sydney Trains continues. In positive news, the ETU held a great demonstration in Sydney last Wednesday (12/2) with State Secretary Allen Hicks proclaiming “It’s time the NSW Government and Sydney Trains representatives stopped wasting taxpayer money whipping up anti-worker sentiment and trying to bully workers through the courts and sat down like adults and negotiated a fair deal.” Sadly, neither the government nor Sydney Trains appear to have heeded his advice. The amount of legal shenanigans has, to be completely honest, left this bush lawyer pretty bamboozled. But in short, the RTBU’s hope that a deal could be reached last week was stymied by a dispute within the dispute over a $4500 sign on payment. The payment was in the previous agreement, and its removal was never included in the NSW Government’s demands. The NSW Government however has catergorised the payment as an eleventh hour additional demand. Government and media narratives about a coordinated “sick out” by workers; the degree of “chaos” and cancellations on the network; that action by Sydney Trains didn’t constitute a lockout and that the $4500 sign on bonus was a new claim have all been disputed by the RTBU in a video entitled “Bullshit Watch”. Stay tuned for more updates on this dispute.
UWU - Serco
Last Friday (14/2), workers at the Melbourne Immigration Detention Centre walked off the job. The workers are employed by Serco, who have lost the Federal Government contract to run Australia’s immigration detention centres. Serco have spat the dummy and are refusing to negotiate a fair pay increase, and have been trying to undermine workers’ redundancy rights. More action is likely to occur at other immigration detention centres around the country.
NSWNMA - Public sector nurses and midwives
NSW nurses and midwives had planned to hold a picket outside Parliament House on Thursday (13/2) but in the wake of a video emerging of two nurses making inappropriate comments about Israeli patients, the NSWNMA instead chose to hold a “No hate in healthcare” speak-out. The rally was supported by the RTBU, USU, PSA, Professionals Australia and other unions. Today, nurses will be rallying in Wollongong to put pressure on local MP Paul Scully, as well as holding their “pollie-watch” sessions at Parliament House today and tomorrow. The picket at Parliament House has been rescheduled to Wednesday 26 February from 9am - 11am. Get along and support the nurses if you can!
AMWU/UWU Victoria - NOV
Workers at NOV are participating in industrial action in their fight for 7% annual pay increases and implementation of the skills matrix to ensure appropriate classification of workers. The bosses at NOV have only offered a 3% increase and removed backpay from the negotiating table in response to industrial action. There are also safety concerns on site.
RTBU - Brisbane City Council
Bus drivers at Brisbane City Council are holding a 2 hour stoppage this Thursday (20/2) from 4am - 6am. Workers have been participating in work bans, including a uniform ban, so the stoppage represent an escalation in tactics. Workers have been in negotiations for almost a year, and their EBA expired in October. They are seeking a fair deal with a wage increase that keeps up with the cost of living as well as back pay.
ANMF/HACSU Victoria - Mental health nurses
Public sector mental health nurses, OTs, social workers, allied health workers and administrative staff across many public hospitals and health services have voted to commence industrial action. Members of HACSU commenced industrial action yesterday (18/2) with ANMF members to follow on Friday (21/2). A wide range of bans will be undertaken including administrative bans, starting and finishing shifts on times, bans on participating in management meetings without appropriate backfill; wearing campaign t-shirts and sharing campaign materials. Both HACSU and ANMF members rejected the government’s first offer in December. Mental health nurses want pay parity with other nurses in the public sector, and minimum annual wage increases of 5% for every worker covered by the agreement. They are also fighting for improvements to super, leave, classifications and safety. You can read HACSU’s breakdown of the log of claims here.
The Services Union - Central Highlands Regional Council
94% of workers at Central Highlands Regional Council have voted to accept a new offer from the Council. The offer includes 5% annual increases over 3 years and an increase in super to 14.25%. Workers first took industrial action in this campaign in September.
ANMF/HACSU Tasmania - LGH
Following union action, the Tasmanian Health Minister has finally committed to air-conditioning works commencing at the Launceston General Hospital in April. A statement from the ANMF said that the union would continue to “push for immediate interim cooling measures” as well as seeking transparency on the engineers’ report, accountability and understanding of the previous $4 million upgrade and an appropriate consultation process.
CFMEU Manufacturing - Opal
After 30 days the lockout at Opal in Maryvale concluded as workers voted to accept an “improved” deal. No details were released by the CFMEU Manufacturing Division, but reporting in The Australian said that the deal means “employees [will] increase their ordinary hours in exchange for higher pay rises and retention of key entitlements”. Reporting at the start of the lockout said that increasing hours would lead to less overtime which would equate to an estimated $10,000 pay cut per year. Members had been seeking a 13.5% increase over 3 years. We will have to wait until the EBA is approved by the FWC to see what the details of the agreement are.
CFMEU - CFMEU
An order for CFMEU Manufacturing Division members to be balloted on whether to leave the CFMEU and form a new union (the Timber Furnishing and Textiles Union) was made on 23 January, and the ballot kicks off next week on Monday 24 February and runs through to Monday 14 April. The ballot will be a combination of a postal ballot and in-person attendance ballots for workers at 32 specific job sites across the country. A survey conducted by the Manufacturing Division found that 84% of members intend to vote Yes, but as they say - the only poll that matters is the one on election day. Any CFMEU members reading, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the de-amalgamation.
That’s all I’ve got this week, and I am really short on time this week so a fleeting sign-off from me! Please get in touch and let me know what I’ve missed.
In solidarity, Sarah