Staff from GSAC and Baths seeking secure tenure from council

STAFF from the Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre and Lismore Memorial Baths are seeking secure tenure from Lismore City Council after years of ongoing casual employment.

STAFF from the Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre (GSAC) and Lismore Memorial Baths are seeking secure tenure from Lismore City Council after years of ongoing casual employment.

A letter written to all councillors last month by 10 staff members said they felt they were "not valued, recognised, appreciated or supported by council". It also said staff morale was at an all-time low, resulting in a very high turnover.

The crux of their concerns is that only the centre manager is a permanent employee, with about 60 people employed as casuals through a labour hire company. Therefore there is no job security, sick leave, holiday pay or other entitlements enjoyed by all other council employees.

The staff were also concerned council might contract out the management of the facilities, though general manager Gary Murphy said this was "not council's preferred position".

Mr Murphy said there was a strong desire from councillors to resolve the situation, but challenges included how best to meet obligations to the staff and the community, and also budget considerations.

He said changes to the Local Government Act meant it was no longer possible to make use of casual labour on an ongoing basis for roles that should be for permanent employees.

Council was looking at a range of options and the costs and benefits of each, he said.

A report to councillors will be presented at the next meeting on March 10.

Mr Murphy said the cost to council of moving people over to permanent positions was likely to be around $300,000 a year.

Mayor Jenny Dowell said the situation was one many councils were dealing with, as people were performing roles that were "non-traditional areas where people operate outside standard work hours".

"The staff are naturally worried and we have wonderful staff at both facilities," she said. "As a member of the GSAC gym I would like to publicly say our staff are brilliant and thank them for their patience.

"We are committed to two things above all; service to the community that is of the highest quality and security of tenure for staff. Our aim is to offer permanent employment to as many staff as we can. By the nature of the work, there will be some casualisation, but we want to move as many staff as possible to permanent employment and we need to examine the best way of doing that."