Services Union concerned at Gympie council’s 100-plus job vacancies

The Gympie council’s workers’ union has flagged “deep concern” about the vision and future of the organisation amid revelations more than 100 council jobs remain vacant, many for at least a year.

Fears of a stressed and overstretched Gympie Regional Council workforce have been flagged amid revelations more than 100 jobs remain vacant, some for at least a year.

Services Union organiser Tom Rivers said the council had confirmed it had 116 unfilled vacancies, a significant chunk of a workforce which is usually about 500 strong.

“Gympie council is currently sitting at over 25 per cent vacancy rate,” Mr Rivers said.

“We would be concerned with any council of any size having a vacancy rate of anything over 5 per cent.”

Mr Rivers said the council revealed this figure to the union during negotiations over a new pay deal for its staff.

The union was “deeply concerned” about the impact the ongoing staff shortage was having on workers.

“In particular we believe there is significant workload stress,” Mr Rivers said.

Acting Gympie Regional Council CEO David Lewis said an “unfortunately” prolonged restructuring had contributed to more than 100 job vacancies within the organisation.

He said much of the “attrition” happened since mid-2020 and “many of these positions have been vacant for at least one year”.

“There is a complete lack of vision for Gympie council and it is the employees and the ratepayer that are missing out,” Mr Rivers said.

Acting council CEO David Lewis said an “unfortunately” prolonged restructuring had caused upheaval.

“We have experienced significant change over the past 12 to 18 months, including a full restructure which has resulted in a higher than average turnover while the structure was put into place,” Mr Lewis said.

“The process unfortunately took longer than we would have liked, as the recruitment of some positions were held (paused) during this time.”

These 116 vacancies included 14 newly created jobs, Mr Lewis said, and there were 23 positions advertised at the moment.

Gympie Regional Council usually employ about 500 people, according to its annual reports from the past decade.

There had been other hurdles too.

“We have also had some issues in recruiting specialised staff – it is important that we find the right candidate for the organisation and for the community,” Mr Lewis said.

“Due to the vacancies, staff have stepped in to ensure our service to community is not impacted and we acknowledge this has had an effect and we continue to manage fatigue.

“We are very proud of our staff who, through this time, including two flood events, continue to deliver for our community.”

The revelation of the scale of unfilled jobs comes as the two groups continue negotiations over a pay rise for the council workforce.

In a released statement the Union said the council’s latest offer of 1.5 per cent over each of the next three years fell well short of the 5.1 per cent CPI increase across Australia.

The rate is below the 2.2 per cent annual increase agreed to by Bundaberg Regional Council in January, and the 2.5 per cent wage increased secured by Fraser Coast Regional Council workers in March.