Industrial disputes & news - 7 February 2024
DP World; Vline; Wire-drawn ferries; Powerhouse Museum; Fed Gov staffers; APS; Serco; Transgrid; TasPorts; Endeavour Energy; Network Aviation; Multiplex; Fire Rescue Victoria; CSL
MUA - DP World
The MUA have reached an in-principle agreement with DP World which includes a 23% payrise over four years, and a $2000 sign on bonus. The agreement will now be taken to members to vote on. The pay increases are reported to be 8% int he first year, 7% in the second, 4% in the third and 4.5% in the fourth. The other key issue in the dispute was around rostering, with the MUA wanting to ensure work/life balance and time to recover from work and DP World pursuing endless flexibility. No detail has been released as yet, but the MUA declared the agreement “delivers fair pay, safety and fatigue management measures, and provides job security and a fair work-life balance.” Over to the members to vote!
RTBU - Vline
The RTBU’s industrial campaign at Vline will escalate with 4 hours of industrial action (3am - 7am) on the 12th, 16th, 19th and 23rd of February. While the industrial action is only being taken by operations staff, it is sufficient to grind the whole system to a standstill. The union has been in negotiations since June, but no agreement around rostering flexibility, hours or pay has been reached.
MUA - Wire-Drawn ferries
Birdon, the company that runs Sydney’s wire drawn ferries, have not moved from their position of refusing to pay ferry operators a cent more than the legal minimum. So the MUA is again escalating industrial action with bans put in place for the first two hours of every shift on Thursday 8 February.
PSA(NSW) - Powerhouse Museum
Workers at the Powerhouse Museum took 1 hour of stopwork action on 1 February and held a rally. With the museum to shortly close, workers have not received adequate information regarding future work plans. At the NSW IRC in December, key demands of the PSA to the museum were the development of a new change management plan, in consultation with the union and copies of the updated redevelopment plan - neither demand has been met. Further strike action has not been ruled out.
CPSU- Federal Government Staffers
Federal government staffers represented by the CPSU have put forward their log of claims which includes pay rises of 20% over 3 years (9/6/5) as well as a “cost-of-living adjustment payment” where inflation exceeds the wage increase due that year; increased super; the right to stop working unreasonable hours; work-from-home rights, paid lactation breaks, gender affirmation leave and incremental pay advancements for casuals.
CPSU/ASU - Australian Public Service
Speaking of the CPSU, ASU members at the ATO received a strongly worded email from their CPSU section councillor and delegate, warning them not to vote down the negotiated EBA agreed to by the CPSU. The ASU Taxation Division has been much less supportive of the deal, holding out for what they term “a catch-up pay increase to make up for employees’ lost salary increases as a result of us being forced to vote NO three times to then Coalition Government mandated cuts in our workplace rights before we were able to negotiate the 2017 Agreement.” I guess it is unsurprising workers at the ATO understand the power of compounding growth? You can read an account of the CPSU’s campaign from one delegate here.
CPSU - Serco mobile speed cameras
I heard a whisper there was to be more industrial action for mobile speed camera operators in Victoria this week… but no firm details have materialised by the time of publication.
AIMPE - Serco
Officers and Engineers working on Antarctica research vessel Nuyina are undertaking industrial action in pursuit of an EBA. The current Greenfields Agreement expired on 6 January, and workers believe it does not meet prevailing employment standards. Workers commenced industrial action on 24 January with an overtime ban, and a ban on external contractors working on the vessel started the next day. The workers held a 24 hour stoppage on Friday 26 January. It was reported that Serco was seeking an urgent hearing with the FWC, but I don’t have any further update.
ETU NSW - Transgrid
As promised, workers at Transgrid will escalate their industrial campaign this Thursday (8 February) with 3 x 8 hour stoppages in 24 hours. I’m not sure what the difference between 3 x 8 hour stoppages and a 24 hour stoppage is, but either way Transgrid is continuing its fight for a decent pay increase for workers.
AMOU - TasPorts
The AMOU have reverted to their suspended program of industrial action, accusing TasPorts of “unethical” behaviour in negotiations. An AMOU official told the Advocate that TasPorts was failing to address AMOU claims, but were bringing new claims under the guise of “productivity improvements”. Pilots will commence industrial action on Wednesday with a series of work bans, and stoppages on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.
ETU NSW - Endeavour Energy
Thursday is looking to be a busy day for the comrades at the ETU in NSW. Endeavour Energy workers will also be taking strike action on Thursday fighting for a decent payrise to keep up with the cost of living. If you’re in Sydney, head to Parramatta Square on Thursday morning at 9:30am to support the workers.
AFAP - Network Aviation
Network Aviation pilots have voted down an EBA for the third time, and notified Qantas, who owns the FIFO & regional subsidiary, that a 24-hour stoppage of all work will commence from 00:01 on 8 February. Network Aviation pilots took industrial action in October, and were due to take action again in November but it was called off at the eleventh hour when an in-principle agreement was made. #ausunions
CFMEU WA - Multiplex
After the threat of industrial action, Multiplex have signed on to a 4 year agreement with a 25% pay increase over the life of the agreement, including an immediate 10% increase. The agreement also includes increased overtime rates; a locked in RDO calendar; rights for CFMEU delegates; increased payments to ReddiFund (a portable redundancy scheme); improved travel allowances; increased income protection and the payment of a training levy. The CFMEU WA Branch 2024 EBA campaign was launched in late 2023. State Secretary Mick Buchan noted the deal with Multiplex “sets a benchmark we expect to be met across the industry.”
UFU - FRV
The Firies and Fire Rescue Victoria were in the FWC on Monday for a preliminary hearing in relation to an intractable bargaining determination. This dispute has been dragging on for years at this point. I’m going to be very honest and say I’ve just skimmed the document, and I think the appropriate linear narrative update to provide in this forum is that the matter will be listed for a case management conference soon.
AMWU/ETU - CSL
My reading of this FWC decision is that the AMWU & ETU attempted to get the FWC to order CSL not to continue negotiating an agreement at the new Tullamarine site until the original disputes were resolved, but this was declined by the FWC. A reminder about the original dispute:
That’s all I’ve got this week. Have I missed something? Is a dispute brewing at your workplace? Let me know!
In solidarity, Sarah