ASC workers in Adelaide protest and want pay equal to WA counterparts

ASC workers could walk off the job as they continue their fight for an 18.5 per cent pay rise.

Further industrial action, including strikes, are on the cards as ASC and unions remain at loggerheads over a pay deal.

Around 200 ASC workers gathered to protest at Parliament House on Thursday as they continued their long-running industrial action as they campaign for an 18.5 per cent pay rise that would see them paid the same as their counterparts in WA.

ASC United Unions Rally poster.

A flyer for the event put out by the AMWU, the AWU and the CEPU says that “for over 12 years we have been undervalued and disrespected in SA’’.

AMWU assistant state secretary Stuart Gordon said negotiations between workers and the ASC had broken down this week.

A previously proposed deal that would have seen wages rise by 12 per cent had been knocked back and was now off the table.

“It could be 24 hours, it could be longer, could be out for a week, there will be rolling stoppages,’’ Mr Gordon said.

“These skilled workers at ASC, you can’t get these guys in Western Australia that do what they do, you can’t get the guys in Sydney or anywhere else in Australia, the skills are so unique,’’ he said,

Around 300 ASC workers have been taking protected industrial action at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in pursuit of a demand that the company provide a pathway to parity in wages to WA counterparts.

Last month, a $2.2bn deal to continue high-level maintenance of Australia’s Collins Class submarine fleet in Adelaide was signed, securing more than 700 South Australian jobs.

Originally published as ASC workers in Adelaide protest and want pay equal to WA counterparts