‘Workers feel there is a lot of waste’: Townsville City Council staff vote to strike
Council workers aren’t only striking for higher pay - they are also demanding a ‘ratepayer value committee’ to divert money away from senior executives and into services.
Townsville
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Ratepayers may soon see bins not being picked up, parks and public land not being mowed and other impacts after Townsville City Council’s frontline service staff voted to begin strike action on Tuesday.
AWU Northern District Secretary Jim Wilson said workers felt the council had become too top-heavy with office managers, with too much money going to their wages instead of service workers.
“There are four layers of management before you get to a single worker who delivers a service for ratepayers,” Mr Wilson said.
“We’ve been in bargaining since March 17 (for a pay increase)... AWU members have voted to begin the process of protected strike action.”
Workers aren’t only striking for higher pay - they are also demanding a ‘ratepayer value committee’ to divert money away from senior executives and into services.
The AWU has close to 150 members employed at Townsville City Council.
“What we’re hearing from our members is that there is a lot of money being spent at the upper echelons of council, but not enough being spent on the people who actually deliver the services,” Mr Wilson said.
“At the moment in Townsville we have a situation where we are still paying a mayor $200,000 a year to not come to work. According to their own reports, Council spent 79 per cent more on executive renumeration in 2024.”
A Townsville City Council spokesperson told the newspaper Council had presented a “good faith” offer to workers that was financially responsible and focused on long-term financial stability.
“Council respects the right of employees to take protected industrial action, the organisation is taking steps to minimise disruptions to essential services,” they said.
Mr Wilson said right now Townsville City Council workers are the lowest paid in North Queensland.
“Down in Ayr they are paid 14 per cent more, in Hinchinbrook Shire they are paid 11 per cent more,” he said.
“We’ve got a situation here where we have some of the lowest paid council workers, but some of the highest rates.”
On Tuesday, June 17 union members voted in favour of starting industrial strike action as they continued to push for a 20 per cent pay rise.
Mr Wilson said the union will start legal action over the next few weeks, with a ballot to take place early next week, and in time residents may notice their bins not being picked up, their parks not being mowed, or similar ‘stop work’ action starting July 1.
“We’d like to see this resolved before that, this is not something our members are choosing to do lightly,” he said.
“But if our members don’t stand up and say ‘enough’s enough’ we will see more services diminished and more high-paid executives in Walker St.”
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Originally published as ‘Workers feel there is a lot of waste’: Townsville City Council staff vote to strike
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