Gympie council staff to consider industrial action over 1.5% pay offer

Workers at Gympie Regional Council are expected to vote on whether to escalate their unhappiness at negotiations over a pay rise following the council’s latest offer.

Workers at Gympie Regional Council are expected to vote on whether to begin industrial action following a wage rise proposal slammed by the Services Union as “unconscionably low”.

In a media statement the union criticised the council’s “measly” offer of a 1.5 per cent rise for workers which it said was well under what had been secured at other councils.

It said the proposal “completely ignores all current and projected economic indicators including the underlying inflation rate of 3.7 per cent”.

Fraser Coast Regional Council workers secured a 2.5 per cent yearly pay rise in their latest negotiations.

Bundaberg council staff won a 2.2 per cent pay rise.

Proposed cuts to several staff benefits including 25 per cent sick leave payout on departure and the removal of annual uniform allowance for non-customer facing roles, to counteract a higher wage offer, were also slammed by the Union in its statement.

Gympie council staff are expected to vote next week on whether to engage in industrial action over prolonged pay rise negotiations, including a new offer described by the Services Union as “measly”.

Gympie council CEO David Lewis said management had no intention of delaying the wage negotiations but decisions around clauses in the contract had to be made before the pay increase was determined.

“These Clauses are important as until we know the dollar value of the entire agreement, we cannot confirm our final position on the percentage wage increase,” Mr Lewis said.

This could not be done at a meeting last week as other unions involved in the negotiations were unable to attend.

Acting council CEO David Lewis said there was no intention of delaying the pay negotiations and the council was still working with the unions to reach an agreement. (Picture: Gympie Regional Council)

Mr Lewis said the council needed to know this value “to ensure that adopted budgets are able to accommodate envisaged percentage pay increases”.

Services Union organisers Tom Rivers reiterated the offer was “not realistic” and said industrial action remained an option for the council’s staff.

it was on top of a negotiation period longer than those that had occurred in at other councils.

Staff will reportedly vote next week whether to take action, and whether that action would be something as small as wearing badges or an actual work stoppage.

Mr Rivers said workers understood any pay rise was unlikely to keep pace with surging cost of living benchmarks, but even a 2 per cent pay rise was “not going to cut it”, Mr Rivers said, adding any drop in staff wages risked making workers “less likely to spend in the economy”.