Gympie council, AWU, Services Union clash again in pay fight

Gympie’s Mayor has blasted council workers and union protesters who marched through the CBD as part of the increasingly bitter pay dispute, saying ‘that’s not how we do things in Gympie’ in a video posted to Facebook.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig has unloaded on union-led protesters who marched through the city’s CBD on Wednesday, August 31, in a fiery social media video which has itself drawn scorn.

In the video posed to Gympie Regional Council’s Facebook page two days after the protest march, Mr Hartwig said he was “disgusted” by the actions of the protesters who walked off the job as contentious pay negotiations drag on.

About 100 CFMEU, AWU and Services Union members engaged in the industrial action, which started in Memorial Park.

The workers who took part in the strike were locked out by the council for the rest of the day.

They marched down the street shortly after 9am chanting slogans including “(Mayor) Glen Hartwig is full of s---” and “union power”.

Mr Hartwig slammed the decision to march down the main street of a city still recovering from multiple floods.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig has criticised the actions of protesters who took to the streets of Gympie on Wednesday. August 31.

“I saw individuals, particularly a lot of people that were not from our region, have driven from their air-conditioned offices in Brisbane to come and create a scene in a town that has been absolutely smashed over the last eight months by wet weather,” Mr Hartwig said.

“To march up that street and in front of those business owners that have suffered a hell of a lot and demand a pay rise for their members, in my opinion, lacked empathy and lacked an understanding of the region these people were coming to.

“If you’re going to march in the street and you’re going to use profanity, and you’re going to behave in the manner that you did you need to look around and see the audience that you’re in front of.

“To rub these business owners’ noses in the proverbial so you can get your five minutes on TV is not the way we do things in Gympie.”

He urged the unions to “engage professionally” in the negotiation process “so we can resolve these issues and move forward”.

Gympie Regional Council workers who took industrial action were locked out for the day by the council, a decision which AWU secretary Stacey Schinnerl said was a “slap in the face”.

AWU Queensland secretary Stacey Schinnerl returned fire on Monday, September 5, saying the union’s members were “incredibly disappointed” by Mr Hartwig’s comments.

“To try to divide his community by pinning flood-affected small business owners against the very council workers who broke their backs helping them clean up earlier this year is an absolute disgrace,” Ms Schinnerl said.

“These council workers are heroes and deserve to be treated with respect – but all they’ve gotten is an unfair pay offer and an unwarranted, disproportionate response from Mayor Hartwig and his council.

“The fact that council locked out these workers last week in response to a one-hour protected stoppage is a slap in the face for these people who have done so much for the community.

“To acknowledge that council staff have gone above and beyond to serve the community in a social media video a few days after locking them out of their workplace shows how out of touch this mayor really is.”

AWU secretary Stacey Schinnerl criticised suggestions the protesters were led by people from outside the region, saying Mayor Glen Hartwig should himself confirm whether senior staff live outside Gympie.

She challenged the claim there were protesters from outside the region engaged in the march.

“Our organiser Alan Bolton took the lead from the AWU with helping these workers with their rally last week – he has lived in Gympie for over 30 years,” Ms Schinnerl said.

“If the Mayor wants to talk about drive-ins, he should confirm that none of his senior staff live outside the region.

“We hear that some of his management spend more time in their air-conditioned home offices or Hastings Street in Noosa than in Gympie.”

Services Union organiser Tom Rivers said the council could resolve the problems swiftly if it wanted.

“This will all just stop if the council puts a reasonable offer on the table,” Mr Rivers said.

He said the council had been “wasting time”, and noted it was only two months ago the council had made its offer of 3.5 per cent for three years.

This was in comparison to increasing CPI and inflation costs, which in a media release the union put at 6.1 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.

Prior to that the council’s offer had been 1.5 per cent per year for three years, Mr Rivers said.

“This could have ended long ago,” he said Monday.