Victoria Police pay deal in doubt as Fair Work Commission called in to settle new dispute

A deal to settle Victoria Police’s long-running pay dispute is in doubt with the workplace umpire called in to resolve a new clash.

Victoria Police’s new pay deal is under a cloud amid fears the long running pay war could be reignited.

The Herald Sun can reveal the Fair Work Commission has again been called in to settle a major dispute between Victoria Police and the police union over the wording of the proposed new deal, which is still be put to a vote of members.

Victoria Police and the police union will head to the Fair Work Commission on Thursday to try and settle the dispute which is understood to centre around overtime provisions.

There are fears the issue, if unresolved, could see rank and file members again reject the deal, forcing parties back to the negotiating table and sparking a political crisis for the Allan government at the height of a worsening crime crisis.

Victoria Police’s new pay deal is under a cloud. Picture: Nadir Kinani

Police ended months of increasingly hostile industrial action last month after the police union endorsed a proposed new deal.

Under the terms of the $450m deal, police would have locked in a 4.5 per cent annual pay increase over the next four years — 0.5 per cent more than the four per cent rejected by members last year.

Frontline police would also have secured an additional 0.5 per cent, and would no longer have been required to “kit up” outside of shift times.

But police sources familiar with negotiations around the compilation of a full agreement to be put to a vote of members said the wording around that provision was at the centre of a new dispute.

“Victoria Police are moving the goalposts,” a source said.

The Fair Work Commission has again been called in to settle a police pay deal dispute. Picture: James Ross

The current offer — which would cost the government an estimated $456m based on its current $3.2bn annual wages bill — is significantly less than the 6 per cent per year that was being sought by the police union.

It would also kill a “golden handshake” clause in the current agreement which allows retiring members to cash in up to 12 months accrued sick leave _ a move estimated to save up to $50m a year.

Last year police rejected a deal that would have seen the phased-in introduction of nine hour shifts by 2028.

It would also have given police an extra 22 days off a year, a 16 per cent pay rise over four years, the addition of two new allowances and a transition to predictable rostering.

Negotiations over a new pay deal have lasted almost two years, and sparked increasingly hostile industrial action.

Originally published as Victoria Police pay deal in doubt as Fair Work Commission called in to settle new dispute