Police pay fight set to affect AFL Grand Final

Thousands of Victoria Police officers have voted to ramp up their industrial action, which could have ramifications for the Grand Final and parade, while they will also stop issuing on-the-spot traffic fines.

Police will pull out of covering major events on their days off ahead of the Grand Final as they ramp up their industrial action.

Almost 15,000 officers this week voted to escalate their campaign for better pay and working hours ahead of the final next week after kicking off their fight earlier this month.

As well as continuing to scrawl messages on police vehicles and warning motorists about speed cameras, officers from 7am Friday will stop dishing out on-the-spot traffic fines.

From Wednesday next week, they will refuse to patrol major and local community events across the state, including the Grand Final match and parade, local cultural festivals and community sporting events, as well as the Spring Racing Carnival if the action continues into November.

The industrial action could affect the AFL Grand Final. Picture: Jason Edwards

Victoria Police could be forced to pull scores of officers away from their regular duties to patrol the events, which are major draw cards for the CBD that can attract up to 100,000 spectators at a time.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt told the Herald Sun officers were fed up with the public paying the price for the lack of support for police working in the community.

“When it comes to our soaring crime rate in Victoria, they want to tell the community why that’s happening,” he said.

Mr Gatt said members will also only work their rostered hours and will not show up to work early to change out of their regular clothing and into their uniforms.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt says officers are fed up with the public paying the price for the lack of support for police. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Officers have been calling for a 24 per cent pay rise over the next four years and the introduction of new 8.5 hour shifts.

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed Victoria Police forked out up to $30m to cover the cost of patrolling the controversial Land Forces weapons conference in the CBD last week.

More than 1000 Victorian officers and police from NSW and Western Australia were brought in for the three-day event to cover more than 10,000 patrol shifts in the city.

Mr Gatt said that showed how costly it was for the force to pay additional officers to cover major events, with members paid more than one and a half times their usual rate for working on their days off.

“We don’t want to do anything to make these events any less safe, but Victoria Police last week found capacity to muster more than 1000 police officers for a major event,” he said.

“It’s something that we know costs tens of millions of dollars.

“This is a busy time for the State of Victoria, but it’s going to be now going to be a very expensive time for the state government as a result of this ban being in place.”

Mr Gatt said earlier this month that he had never seen morale among members of the force so low.

Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin said the government must step in immediately and end its “war with police”.

“As the Allan Labor government continues their war with police over pay and conditions, they are failing to address the issues of nearly 1000 vacancies on rosters, 43 police stations closed or cutting hours and crime rising at record levels,” he said.

“The Premier must intervene and sort out this chaos created by Labor picking winners and losers.

“The CFMEU were winners, why don’t police get the same respect?”

Police union members first began industrial action late last year before it was paused after a breakthrough in negotiations to implement a new nine-day working model.

But the long-running pay dispute was reignited in July this year when members rejected a $500m deal that included the landmark nine-day fortnight scheme.

During recent ongoing action, officers have written messages on patrol cars such as “Don’t bail on police, pay us what we’re worth” and “New train stations open, police stations close under Labor”.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said there would still be enough frontline police to keep the community safe amid the pay fight.

“We remain committed to good faith negotiations with the Police Association Victoria and independent bargaining representatives to secure an agreement that recognises the challenges of policing and is fair for police, protective services officers and the Victorian community,” she said.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said all parties continued to engage in good faith to negotiate a new enterprise agreement.

“Any planned protected industrial action is a matter for The Police Association of Victoria, and we welcome the union’s assurance that community safety will not be put at risk during any industrial action,” she said.

“Victoria Police officers play a critical role in protecting the community and saving lives, and we thank them for their vital service to the state.”

Originally published as Police pay fight set to affect AFL Grand Final