Rubbish collection and street cleaning services in the City of Whittlesea are among key services to be affected by industrial action by council workers over their enterprise bargaining agreement.
As well, parking officers have stopped issuing parking infringement notices indefinitely as part of the dispute against what workers have labelled a “sub-standard” EBA offer from council management.
Striking workers are members of the Australian Services Union, one of three unions favoured by council’s 1200 staff members.
Main issues of contention are wage increases and redundancy provisions.
“ASU local laws officers will target specific areas of Whittlesea where they won’t be issuing infringement notices. The depot will not be street cleaning certain parts of the municipality and a number of litter bins won’t be emptied,” said ASU organiser Melissa Wainwright.
“We understand these bans may impact on residents, but we’re confident many will understand the importance of fighting for a fair deal for those who provide important services.”
Whittlesea chief executive David Turnbull said the council supported the right of staff to take industrial action, “but I hope our continued negotiations with the union will allow an agreement to be reached as soon as possible.
City of Whittlesea is still in talks with the union to finalise its enterprise agreement … We’ve put forward what we believe is a very fair offer for staff conditions, on top of existing conditions that provide a good work-life balance,” he said. The locations to be affected is unknown at this stage.
