Bus strike averted as workers reach pay deal with Brisbane City Council

Brisbane bus drivers have cancelled their strike planned for Friday afternoon, as council employees reached an in-principle pay agreement with the council.

In a statement late on Thursday, Deputy Mayor Fiona Cunningham said the newly negotiated enterprise bargaining agreement – a 7.35 per cent pay rise over two years, backdated to October – was a “fair and reasonable outcome”.

Friday afternoon’s strike had been scheduled for the peak hours of 4pm to 6pm.Credit: Tammy Law

It came after library and call centre staff took industrial action on Thursday, with the council telling the public to avoid libraries and to expect long phone queues.

After a two-hour early-morning strike a week earlier, bus drivers had planned to walk off the job again on Friday afternoon, but said on Friday morning they would not proceed with the strike.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union’s Tom Brown said his members still wanted to drill down into the detail of the offer presented by the council, but the end of the campaign was in sight.

He said for his members, the backpay to October last year would mean an extra $1000 to $1500 in their pockets.

The 7.35 per cent pay deal, he said, would be a pay rise of about $5000 for many drivers.

Cunningham said the wage agreement ensured council staff would receive a pay rise well above inflation but well below “the outlandish initial claims by unions”.

“We strongly believe if current legislation allowed us to directly ballot our staff, this agreement would have been finalised months ago and residents would not have been inconvenienced by union strike action,” she added.

An email sent by the Services Union, which represented the librarians and call centre workers that went on strike this week, described the deal as “the first real bargain with the Brisbane City Council in about five years”.

“A short, sharp period of industrial action by mighty Services Union members was enough to persuade the council to reach an agreement,” the email said.

Services Union secretary Neil Henderson said the result was a good outcome for members.

“It’s a decent pay rise, dating from the date we should have had it from, which will improve some conditions for members and improve productivity,” he said.

Brisbane City Council employs more than 7000 staff, and negotiates its employee agreement with not only the Services Union and the Rail Tram and Bus Union, but eight other unions.

Their last pay deal was reached through arbitration in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, after enterprise bargaining failed to reach a resolution.

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