Industrial disputes & news - 5 March 2025
Vic public sector mental health workers; Serco; UGL; St Vincent's Private; BAE; Young Hospital; Nestle; Wingecarribee Council; Alstom Metronet; Teekay; Sydney Trains; Brisbane City Council; & IWWD
HACSU/ANMF - Public mental health workers
HACSU members stopped work for 2 hours last Wednesday (26/2) at Northern Health and at St Vincent’s on Friday (28/2) as an escalation of their EBA campaign. The union says there has been “no meaningful movement” from the Victorian Hospitals Industry Association or the government. In addition to these stop work action, both HACSU and the ANMF have implemented a range of work bans as part of the campaign for a new public sector mental health EBA. Negotiations have been underway for 7 months.
UWU - Serco
Industrial action at immigration detention centres around the country continued over the weekend as Serco is still refusing to address redundancy claims as the detention centres’ operation is transferred to a new contractor. On Sunday (2 March) the FWC issued a recommendation that stoppages be reduced from 4 hours to 2 hours. Workers at 9 detention centres had already taken 4 hours of industrial action that morning before the FWC issued its recommendation. UWU believes Serco is deliberately inflaming tensions, while workers just want their entitlements.
AMWU QLD - UGL
Workers at UGL in Townsville struck again last Wednesday (26/2) in pursuit of a better deal from the boss.
ANMF Vic - St Vincent’s Private
At a mass meeting last Tuesday (25/2) ANMF members at St Vincent’s Private Hospital voted to put the revised offer from management to a formal vote. This followed 100 days of protected industrial action. Protected industrial action came to an end on Friday (28/2) after drafting was completed. The union conceded that the campaign had not achieved all demands, but also expressed a concern that it was unclear what support there was for escalated protected industrial action and “what that would achieve”. The ANMF lists the wins of the campaign as an extra week of annual leave for part-time shift workers; 5 days compassionate leave; 5 uncertified personal leave days; recognition of unpaid parental leave for the accrual of long service leave, a Consultative Committee and “recognition of the pressing need for additional staff in the agreement”. A ballot for endorsement of the agreement will now take place.
AMWU/CEPU SA - BAE
Last Tuesday (25/2) over 400 workers at BAE Osborne walked off the job. Both the morning and afternoon shifts held 1 hour stop work meetings to discuss their EBA campaign. Workers struck again yesterday (4/3). Workers are seeking pay parity with ASC. In September last year workers from both BAE and ASC rallied outside the Premier’s office as part of their campaign for improved wages and conditions. But while the dispute at ASC concluded in November, BAE’s continues. Last year, workers at BAE rejected management’s offer of a 9.75% wage increase over 3 years, holding out for annual increases of 6.5% (19.5% over three years).
HSU - Young Hospital/Cootamundra Pathology Lab
Pathology workers at Young Hospital are striking for 24 hours today (26/2). The dispute is over pathology services in the wider Murrumbidgee region. It has been decided that the Cootamundra Pathology Lab will be closed, meaning all the work currently undertaken there, will end up at the Young Hospital pathology lab (about 40 minutes from Cootamundra). Workers are concerned the closure of the Cootamundra lab will increase wait times for results and put more pressure on pathology services. Workers will be rallying outside the hospital for a press conference at 11:30am this morning.
AMWU/ETU/PPTEU Vic - Nestle
Workers at Nestle Campbellfield and Broadford have strongly voted in favour of taking industrial action after 9 months of negotiations for a new EBA. From tomorrow (6/3), workers will implement bans on overtime and callbacks, and stop work for 1 hour at the start of every shift The workers have demanded 8% annual pay rises, but Nestle are refusing to budge from 3.5%. The main sticking point in the agreement though is rostering. Nestle have proposed moving from 3 eight hour shifts of a standard working week based on 36 hours to a 24/7 roster. Under the proposed arrangement maintenance workers will be required to work 12 hour shifts - up to 5 in a row. There will also be a requirement to work every second weekend and through public holidays. There would be no monetary compensation for this changed work pattern. Workers will also hold a protest on Thursday 6 March from 2:30pm at Nestle Campbellfield (1585 Hume Hwy (Sydney Road), Campbellfield). Get along and support them if you can.
USU - Wingecarribee Shire Council
Any locals from the Wingecarribee Shire Council area reading this? There are a few media reports about a culture of bullying and harassment at the Council, with the USU apparently filing a dispute in the NSW IRC. On Thursday (27/2), the Council posted a statement claiming the USU would participate in “unlawful industrial action” from 1pm Thursday 27 February until 8:30am on Monday 3 March. I haven’t been able to track down any further details. Any locals or USU members that can shed light on the situation - please feel free to get in touch.
AMWU/ETU WA - Alstom Metronet
Workers at Alstom Metronet in Bellevue will walk off the job this Friday (7/3) at 11:30am. Unions have been in negotiations for an EBA for awhile at this stage. The last bargaining meeting was held on 24 February where Alstom wouldn’t agree to the union’s claims, and subsequently lodged a dispute in the FWC. As such, workers felt there was little option but to take industrial action. Unions are seeking a 23% wage increase over 3 years, but Alstom’s best offer thus far is only 12% over 3 years. Workers are also fighting for a 36 hour week.
MUA WA - Teekay
Bunkering operations (supplying fuel to ships) will be impacted by industrial action at Fremantle Port from this Friday (7/3) until 4 April. MUA members have voted to take industrial action against marine services company Teekay due to their use of cheap, exploited labour. Workers will participate in a range of bans including a ban on operating cranes between 6am and 5pm; a ban on operating winches; a ban on bunkering cruise ships or ocean liners unless they have been tied up to a wharf in Fremantle for at least 72 hours; a ban on training employees and contractors; and a ban on sending emails. The union wants a fair deal for workers, and an 100% YES vote on industrial action shows they are ready to fight for it.
ETU NSW - Sydney Trains
Important update on the Sydney Trains dispute. With the ETU breaking away from the Combined Rail Unions, the union has now applied to the Federal Court to have the FWC’s decision to suspend all industrial action thrown out. The ETU contends that the CRU did not adequately represent the ETU’s interests and that the decision to suspend all industrial action until July gives the government an unfair advantage in negotiations as in August, the dispute will have been going long enough for Sydney Trains to apply for an intractable bargaining declaration. The case will be before the Federal Court on March 7 - so stay tuned for the next update.
The Services Union/RTBU - Brisbane City Council
After The Services Union members at Brisbane City Council took industrial action on Thursday (27/2), RTBU members at the Council shelved their planned peak hour strike as a deal between unions and the Brisbane City Council was made. The media reported the deal as being a 7.35% wage increase over 2 years, only a fraction above the 7.25% offer originally made by the Council, and short of the 8.6% demand of workers. The deal however does include backpay, which the Council had been resisting, as well as improvements to conditions including the introduction of reproductive leave; more personal leave; and improved redundancy and redeployment clauses. Workers will now have the opportunity to vote on the offer.
MUA Domestic Violence Solidarity Leave
Not a dispute, but a great initiative worth sharing. The MUA have launched a campaign to introduce a new leave type that they are calling “Family and Domestic Violence Solidarity Leave”. Sydney Branch organiser Shane Reside described the initiative: “This leave is for maritime workers to render assistance to their loved ones in times of crisis. For example, if my sister in Brisbane was to call me today in tears because her partner has torn the house to pieces, I could get in the car, drive up to Brisbane, pick her and the kids up and bring them back to safety. That would all be covered by this category of leave.” The MUA has successfully secured 10 days of paid Family and Domestic Violence Solidarity leave in 6 workplaces across Sydney. The union now wants to roll it out across the industry. Last week, 40 MUA delegates in Sydney participated in a day of training about the leave, including how to recognise when loved ones are experiencing violence, how to help, and how to support the roll out of this leave across the industry. This fantastic initiative follows in the footsteps of annual leave, sick leave, parental leave and domestic violence leave. No boss has ever happily given a worker a paid day off work - every single category of leave has been fought for by workers and their unions. Hats off to the MUA for leading the charge on this one.
International Working Women’s Day
This Saturday, 8 March, is International Working Women’s Day. They can pry the extra “W” in IWWD out of my cold dead hands. Get along to a demo to mark this important day if you can.
Sydney - Saturday 8 March, 1pm - Town Hall Square
Darwin - Saturday 8 March, 8:30am - Civic Centre Courtyard
Adelaide - Saturday 8 March, 11am - Victoria Square
Hobart - Thursday 6 March, 12:30pm - Franklin Square
Melbourne - Thursday 6 March, 5:30pm - State Library of Victoria
Perth - Oops we missed it. The WA comrades rallied last Friday, 28 February.
That’s all I’ve got this week. There are a bunch of things outside of the realm of disputes that I would love to write about, but I’m a bit time poor currently. If I manage to get some time and space, I’ll post them as substack notes and in my instagram stories - so if the prospect of that interests you, make sure you’ve subscribed and followed. Thanks also (as always) to the readers who helped fill some gaps in the report this week.
In solidarity, Sarah