Liverpool council calls for investigation into alleged leaking of info to United Services Union

A fight over workers’ pay and conditions between a southwest Sydney council and union has turned ugly, with a councillor interrogated over an alleged ‘leak’ of confidential council contracts.

A bitter dispute between Liverpool City Council and the United Services Union has taken an ugly turn, with an extraordinary meeting called by council to demand an investigation into a purported ‘leak’.

Council is currently in negotiations to secure a new depot, arguing it would give better access to resources needed for crews to respond faster to potholes and infrastructure damage.

The financial details on that deal were allegedly paraded around on a truck within the Liverpool CBD.

On September 15, council called an extraordinary meeting, with 10 out of 11 councillors passing a motion asking for an urgent and immediate investigation into the leaking of confidential information being displayed on a mobile digital billboard, authorised by the USU.

Liverpool Council and USU were both given the opportunity to comment on that extraordinary meeting, and the supposed ‘leak’ but refused.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun at Liberty Tower. Picture: Daily Telegraph/Monique Harmer

Mayor Ned Mannoun told the Liverpool Leader the depot was especially important given the increased flooding in the area.

“It takes longer to drive the length of the Liverpool LGA than it does to drive from the Harbour Bridge to Liverpool itself,” he said.

But the dispute between the union and council runs deeper, with the core issue a proposed restructure of Liverpool council’s workforce.

The union is fighting to maintain the standards of pay, roles, and conditions for its members, while Liverpool council claims the restructure would deliver a net benefit of 50 additional staff, redeploying “99 per cent” of staff in roles scheduled to be axed.

Trucks with signs criticising Liverpool Liberal mayor Ned Mannoun, deputy mayor Karress Rhodes, and councillor Richard Ammoun, authorised by the United Services Union, spotted on September 5. Picture: Paul Brescia

Labor councillor Nathan Hagarty is a member of the United Services Union, and voluntarily declared his conflict of interest at the extraordinary meeting, but remained for the vote, which was passed unanimously.

In the previous council meeting, on August 31, 16 minutes were spent discussing a social media post made by Cr Hagarty, in which he appeared with USU members.

Five minutes into the discussion, Cr Hagarty said, “I know where all this is going. If the insinuation here is that I have linked any confidential information I can tell you point blank it hasn’t come from me.”

“In my six or seven years on council, I don‘t think I’ve ever seen in the agenda, an item called interrogation of counsel that might be buried in the code of meeting practice,” he said.

In his understanding, the union believes the depot is unnecessary, the funds better spent on workers.

“A number of workers have been advised their roles are potentially going to be structured out or downgraded, and they’ve raised those concerns with the union,” Cr Hagarty told the Liverpool Leader.

“Myself and the Labor councillors understand the concerns of the union. We’ve had a rough two or three years where workers have gone above and beyond — Covid, floods, bushfires — and I’m happy to back the workers in that.”

He clarified he wouldn’t have voted for the proposed changes if they led to a worse outcome for staff.

In a signed letter to Liverpool council, seen by the Liverpool Leader, USU secretary Graeme Kelly OAM said, “If Council is serious about cost saving, they should seek suggestions for potential cost savings from the staff before cutting jobs”.

Liverpool councillor Nathan Hagarty said he was not the source of the leak. Picture: Supplied

Cr Mannoun claims the union is focused on driving divisions between councillors, attempting to cause confusion in the lead up to the state election.

“We are also taking good care of our staff with redeployments rather than redundancies and a focus on executive job changes to protect frontline staff,” he said.

“It simply isn’t fair to suggest massive job losses when the net job losses are not there.”

He said 10 out of 11 voted for the staff restructure and depot, adding that the vote for the new budget was unanimous.

“I inherited a council that was 18 months out from going broke with a massive deficit,” he said.

“All our work is about ‘back to basics’, with a stronger focus on roads and rubbish because that’s what our ratepayers deserve.”