Industrial disputes & news - 28 February 2024
Parliament House maintenance staff; Transdev bus drivers; Vline; Serco mobile speed camera operators; Network Aviation; Saputo; AFP; Transgrid; Cleanaway; NSW Firefighters; DP World; CDU
AMWU/ETU/CFMEU - Parliament House, Canberra
On Monday, electricians and maintenance staff at Parliament House in Canberra took 24 hours strike action fighting for a fair pay deal. According to the ETU, some sparkies at Parliament House are earning up to $30,000 below the industry average. The wages are so poor, that full time positions are going unfilled, which then leads to the Department of Parliamentary Services having to outsource the jobs at a higher rate anyway. The Department claims it has been negotiating in good faith and has undertaken to “conduct a review of the classifications of staff in affected areas”. Similarly to AFP cops, the much lauded flexible work arrangements in the agreement don’t mean much to blue collar trades workers.
TWU QLD - Transdev
Bus drivers in Redlands, Queensland employed by Transdev took 24 hours strike action on Monday (26/2). This is the second time this year they have taken industrial action. Workers are seeking better wages (aiming for $35/hour by 2025), as well as improved conditions.
RTBU - Vline
Workers at Vline will take strike action for the 7th time on Friday 8 March. In an escalation of tactics, workers will take 13 hours of strike action from 3am - 4pm. 8 March, the Friday before the Labour Day weekend, is a strategic choice. The RTBU has been in negotiations with Vline for 9 month. While the most recent offer from Vline showed some progress, it was not sufficient progress on wages, and still represented an attack on conditions. The union has been in negotiation with Vline for 9 months.
CPSU - Serco
Commencing midnight Friday (23/2), mobile speed camera operators in Victoria took 48 hours strike action. Industrial action has been taking place since New Years’ Eve. The workers who are employed by multinational Seco are seeking a fair pay deal and action on safety concerns. The CPSU has vowed that industrial action will continue “until safety suggestions are adopted and acceptable salary and condition improvements come forward.”
AFAP - Network Aviation
After cancelling planned industrial action over the weekend due to a tropical cyclone, more strike action is on the cards for Network Aviation. AFAP members at Network Aviation and Qantas Link have said they will take a further 3 days strike action starting today (28 February). Qantas’ intractable bargaining application will be held in the FWC on 14-15 March.
CEPU/AMWU Tasmania - Saputo
Workers at Saputo in Burnie kicked off industrial action last week. Workers are fighting for pay parity with their colleagues who work in Saputo’s factory in regional Victoria. Dairy workers in Victoria took industrial action in October last year winning pay rises of 14% over 3 years (5% in the first year) as well as improved conditions. Strikes beget strikes!
AFPA - APSC
The Federal Police have been approved by the FWC to undertaken a protected action ballot. The AFP’s union, AFPA is making it pretty clear that their dispute is with the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC), rather than the bosses at the AFP. The cops feel like they have been lumped with the negotiated deal, and like the tradies at Parliament House - when the major achievement of the agreement is around flexible working arrangements, and your job is shadowing MPs around the country… you’re probably not going to be that thrilled with the 11.2% over 3 years payrise alone. Will be interesting to see what sort of industrial action they undertake.
ETU NSW - Transgrid
The ETU met with Transgrid again last week and released a bargaining update on Thursday (22/2). Protected industrial action will continue until Transgrid table an offer that takes into the account the cost of living and members’ concerns. While some progress has been made on some items from the log of claims, no agreement has been reached on increases to wgaes or superannuation.
TWU NSW - Cleanaway
The FWC has refused to order a TWU delegate to hand over details of a post in a “Garbos United” Facebook group. The post said “Big Blue is now in panic mode as such they will do anything for this not to go to arbitration.” Cleanaway tried to get the FB group details in relation to the TWU’S intractable bargaining declaration application which commenced on Monday (26/2).
FBEU - NSW Government
Firefighters in Sydney walked off the job on Monday (26/2) after their current award expired on Sunday, and no offer was yet to be made by the state government. Firefighters are seeking a 20% increase over 3 years. The Daily Telegraph reports that negotiations “soured” last week. Firies have also commenced wearing campaign tshirts instead of uniforms.
ETU QLD - DP WORLD
ETU members at DP World in Brisbane continue their strike action this week, and DP World refuses to continue negotiations until workers have been back at work for at least 24 hours. An impasse. The ETU want the same annual pay increases as the MUA just won from DP World nationally (8%, 7%, 4%, 4.5%), but DP World has only offered 6%, 4%, 4% and 4.5%. DP World alleged that the strike action was having “no impact” on day to day actions, but Container Transport Alliance Australia countered that “to have anyone say there’s no disruption caused by this dispute is disingenuous”. We will watch with interest.
ETU NT - CDU/Halikos
I reported last week that the VC of CDU had publicly blamed the ETU and its recent protected industrial action for the delay in a new university building being completed. After the ETU called for an apology, the VC initially denied he had blamed the workers before seeing the error in his way and apologising both to the organiser on the job, and on local radio. So to wrap up the report this week, a special shout out to ETU NT Organiser David “Strawbs” Hayes, because it’s one thing to call out a boss for bad behaviour, it’s another thing to actually get them to apologise!
That’s all I’ve got this week! I’m hoping to have some time over the next week to check back over previous reports to check in on disputes that have dropped off the radar or gone quiet. If there’s something on your radar, let me know and I’ll add it to my post-it note of things to investigate!
In solidarity, Sarah