Public servant pay rise demands: Premier Peter Malinauskas issues public sector pay deal warning
Premier Peter Malinauskas has cautioned against “belligerent” pay claims during public sector pay talks. See the full list of pay rise demands.
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Premier Peter Malinauskas is issuing a stark warning to unions against “belligerent” pay claims soaring to 30 per cent, declaring these would plunge state finances into a “parlous” state and further hike debt for future generations.
In a blunt rejoinder to public hospital doctors threatening a full-day strike on July 30, Mr Malinauskas branded their claim as potentially blowing the budget “out of the water” by adding to $48.495bn state debt.
More than 500 doctors at a city stopwork meeting on Wednesday morning threatened a full-day strike on July 30, unless the state government agreed to their demand for a 30 per cent pay rise over three years.
In an interview with The Advertiser, Mr Malinauskas said the state government would agree to above-inflation wage rises but not the “sorts of wage increases that has got the Victorian government’s budget into a whole lot of trouble”.
Victorian taxpayers will pay up to $1bn to fund a 28.4 per cent wage rise over four years for nurses and midwives, endorsed in June last year.
“Those types of wage increases run the risk of putting the budget back into deficit. If the budget’s in deficit, then you start contributing to debt. Now, we’ve put the budget back into surplus, because we want to be able to increase the balance sheet of the state, to invest in infrastructure,” Mr Malinauskas said.
“Debt going up to invest in infrastructure is one thing, but debt going up to pay wages is a wholly different thing again – and that’s what we’ve got to try and avoid.
“ … The state budget has factored in, of course, that wages will go up. We always do. But we’re not going to factor in the type of increases that automatically put the budget into a parlous state in a way that’s not sustainable for future generations.”
Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia also warned state debt risked being fuelled by more than 20 government sector pay deals being negotiated over coming months, including doctors, ambulance officers, nurses, firefighters, TAFE lecturers, public sector salaried workers and tram and bus operators.
Further targeting the doctors’ union, Mr Malinauskas said their award included a “no fixed hours” clause which was creating “challenging” workforce planning, particularly on weekends, and hampering patient flow because too many discharges were delayed until Mondays.
Asked if that was contributing to ramping and clogging up of hospitals, Mr Malinauskas said: “It would certainly make a big difference if we could get that flow moving.”
Mr Malinauskas, a former shop assistants’ union state secretary, said public sector unions would be “appropriately relentless” during enterprise agreement talks, but cautioned them to “also have a mind to what is appropriate and realistic for the state as a whole”.
“It’s that approach that can result in getting people wage increases sooner rather than later. If unions take a more belligerent approach, it’s not productive for everybody. So let’s work collaboratively,” he said.
Mr Tarzia accused the government of financial mismanagement by foreshadowing an inability to “adequately increase wages for these essential workers” whose pay deals were being negotiated.
“This government needs to get the basics right. It needs to pay our frontline workers a suitable wage and ensure we attract the best and brightest to our state and incentivise them to stay,” he said.
INSIDE THE SA PUBLIC SECTOR PAY TALKS
Public hospital doctors:
South Australian Salaried Medical Officers Association wants 30 per cent over three years saying junior doctors are nation’s second-worst paid. Government has offered 10 per cent over three years, with $4050 extra for junior doctors.
After a Wednesday stopwork meeting, SASMOA president Dr Laura Willington said: “We’re ready to have intense negotiations with the government. We are ready to reach an agreement. But the current offer was universally rejected today by all of the members at this meeting. So, we need a more fair and reasonable offer, and we want the government to take notice that our members are not going to accept the current offer.”
“. We’re open to discussions about pay, and in particular, we’re open to looking at having our most junior doctors have a more significant pay increase than the consultants, if that is something that the government is prepared to offer.”
Nursing/midwifery:
Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation state secretary Elizabeth Dabars said no stated figure had been set for a pay claim. She said: “We are eight weeks into negotiations and we have asked the government to recognise and respect nurses and midwives by making a fair and reasonable offer for them to consider, that recognises the need to attract and retain our hardworking and dedicated nurses and midwives, noting that we are experiencing a national and international shortage of nurses and midwives and that SA is currently placed at the low end of national wage comparisons and experiencing a cost-of-living crisis.”
SA Metropolitan Firefighters Service:
United Fire Fighters Union Of South Australia secretary Max Adlam said: “We lodged a log of claims last year to commence bargaining. Negotiations are currently well underway.”
SA Public Sector Salaried employees:
Public Service Association of SA says current government offer is up to three per cent over three years, subject to reductions in conditions. PSA has strenuously rejected that offer.
SA Public Sector Weekly Paid employees, Forestry SA and West Beach Trustworkers:
PSA says all are being offered three per cent per year over three years.
Parliament Houseworkers:
PSA says employer offer is 3.75 per cent, 3.5 per cent, 3 per cent, plus a one-off payment of $2000 (from approval date) and also another one-off payment of $1500 (one year post end of agreement). Parliament House offers have been voted down twice – bargaining is to recommence on Monday, June 30.
Assistants to Members of Parliament:
PSA says offer is 3.5%, 3%, 3% plus a one-off payment of $1000 after date of approval. Offer voted down in April, bargaining yet to recommence.
Allied Health Professionals and Psychologists:
PSA says proposal is for 4%, 3.5%, 3,5%, 2.5% and includes massive, significant, Work Choices-style conditions stripping. PSA general secretary Natasha Brown said: “The public sector urgently needs a substantial pay rise that addresses our members’ cost-of-living crisis and ensures the public service can continue to attract and retain essential workers. Keeping wages low undermines the essential services that the public sector provide – which means that the public suffer too as a result.
“The state government can well afford to give its public sector a wage rise that redresses the current wage imbalance, where South Australian public sector workers earn significantly less than their private sector or interstate counterparts.
“PSA members love their work. All they want is to be able to get on with the job of helping people – while being paid a wage that they can live on.”
TAFE SA Education employees:
Australian Education Union has put in a 20 per cent pay claim over three years. The government has not tabled a monetary figure, despite what AEU state president Jennie-Marie Gorman says are “our repeated attempts to open that dialogue”.
She said: “That salary claim will go a long way to closing the gap between an Accomplished Lecturer (average pay $104,720) and a Step Nine teacher- a gap that currently sits at about $15,000. The AEU stands firm in its belief that educators deserve a high salary, commiserate with their professionalism, expertise, and dedication, and that it doesn’t matter where the educator is employed. If we’re to fix educator staffing shortages, the government will have to improve salary conditions for our educators.”
SA Police:
Struck a landmark pay and conditions deal last December that will see salaries increase up to 17.9 per cent within a single year in a bid to combat the exodus of officers. Enterprise agreement talks continue. Police Association president Wade Burns said: “The first priority is an agreement that retains our experienced police officers and recognises their wealth of knowledge and experience. And while the previous arrangement delivered significant improvements in pay and conditions, the government still has a long way to go to return policing to a job of choice. We’re focused on securing a long-term agreement that not only improves pay and conditions but also makes policing an attractive proposition for potential recruits. This will have a two-fold effect: it will encourage experienced officers to remain in the force, and it will enable them to mentor a new generation of high-quality recruits. I don’t think the public wants SA to follow in the footsteps of other police jurisdictions worldwide, where a lack of resources and support for police officers has brought about significant compromises to community safety.”
Rail and tram awards:
Rail, Tram, and Bus Union declined to comment.
SA Ambulance Service:
Ambulance Employees Association of South Australia did not respond to multiple messages from The Advertiser.
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Originally published as Public servant pay rise demands: Premier Peter Malinauskas issues public sector pay deal warning
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