North Burnett Regional Council lashed by AWU for asking workers to sign away their rights for future work

The North Burnett council has been slammed by a union for proposing to lock workers made redundant out of the local job market despite just months earlier calling for a pay rise for themselves.

The North Burnett Regional Council is again under-fire from unions as its budget crisis deepens, with the revelation councillors sought a pay rise just months before revealing its dire financial crisis.

The Australian Workers Union also lashed the council for asking workers made redundant to sign away their rights to work for contractors who might take up jobs in the region.

AWU Central Region organiser Bronson Thomas condemned the council for proposing to “lock locals out of the local job market”.

The union says it discovered a proposal by the council to force redundant employees to sign away their rights to work for any contractor who might take over the work for the council.

“It’s gut wrenching to think that ... North Burnett Council have sought to lock their once loyal employees out of the local job market by forcing them to agree to a dodgy clause in their redundancy contract,” Mr Thomas said.

While the union said it was able to secure release clauses for AWU members who had volunteered to be made redundant, Mr Thomas said he was concerned for others who may have signed the waiver.

It’s also been revealed that just months before the council launched it’s ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place’ campaign revealing the extent of the council’s financial woes, the Mayor made a written submission seeking pay rises for councillors.

The submission is detailed in the Local Government Remuneration Commission’s 2020 report, detailing a written submission received by the commission from Mayor Rachel Chambers.

Mayor Rachel Chambers, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Gayndah. Photo/Holly Cormack.

In the submission, Cr Chambers told the commission the council’s present Category 1 payrate was “not reflective of the effort and skill of council”.

“The current remuneration does not reflect the actual role and duties undertaken daily which include – 20,000km2 area with six distinct townships, current salary makes it difficult to attract younger candidates needed to be involved in planning for the future,” Cr Chambers wrote.

As a category 1 council, Mayor Rachel Chambers receives a salary of $108,222 a year, while the deputy mayor is paid $62,435.

For councillors, a base payment of $36,073.28 is payable for the 12 months commencing on 1 July 2021 with a meeting fee of $1,503.06 per calendar month added.

The union said it was time for the council to step up and protect local jobs, and warned residents would remember a failure to act at the ballot box.

“The AWU are asking Mayor and North Burnett Councillors to step in to protect local jobs and services giving an undertaking not use out-of-towner contractors over local Council workers and to drop all restrictions on staff who were made redundant from finding other local jobs,” Mr Thomas said.

“We know residents of the North Burnett want locals to be prioritised over out-of-town contractors.”

The North Burnett council declined to comment on the matter, and referred NewsCorp to the Local Government Remuneration Commission’s 2020 report.