Statement is attributable to a Townsville City Council spokesperson
Townsville City Council has been negotiating its three certified agreements since March, with protected industrial action over the past 10 weeks significantly affecting community services. While Council respects employees' rights to strike and participate in work bans, it will now exercise its own rights under the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld), locking out staff for 48 hours if they participate in further industrial action in the coming days.
Council's most recent offers for the three agreements would result in:
- Trades and Technical such as electricians, plumbers, mechanics, boilermakers and fitters (Stream C) 21.59% increase over three years, including 14.61% in Year 1, equating to an average uplift of approximately $8,681 in the first year.
- Field and Outdoor Staff such as labourers, plant operators and waste truck drivers (Stream B) 18.15% increase over three years, including 11.36% in Year 1, an average increase of $6,500 in the first year.
- Administrative and Professional Staff (Stream A) 11.39% increase over three years, including 5% in Year 1, an average increase of $4,381 in the first year.
The organisation has been negotiating in good faith to uplift staff remuneration amid ongoing work bans impacting services across the city, including Council's waste facilities and bin collections.
While Council respects employees' rights to participate in protected industrial action, this is about recognising that Council has significantly improved its offer, particularly for the organisation's lowest paid workers.
Council has supported employees' rights to pursue their claims, including offering paid union meetings to discuss the latest offer. However, despite requests to cease industrial action and resume constructive negotiations, bargaining parties have not agreed to a path forward that Council can accept.
The current actions are impacting services to the community and has left Council no choice but to impose unpaid lock outs for those participating in industrial action.
Council believes this is a genuine and balanced offer and represents the absolute of what can be reasonably be offered without putting jobs or essential services at risk.
Council understands people are frustrated by the constant interruptions, so we're acting in the best interest of our community and exercising our right to lock those who wish to continue participating in ongoing industrial action, out.
As part of this action, those who have been locked out will not be paid, nor permitted at any Council locations for 48 hours.
As of the last certified agreement meeting on 21 August the unions' current claim was for a 17 per cent base uplift plus a 5 per cent first year increase, totalled 22.85 percent in year one alone.
Council's current offer sees no reduction in existing conditions, and includes improved conditions:
- Fortnightly RDOs and five weeks annual leave
- Increases to on-call leave entitlements for Field and Trades staff
- New Chief Fire Warden allowance
- Minimum three-month engagement for apprentices post-completion
- Salary progression for crew leaders under a tiered allowance framework
Further industrial action will likely result in interruptions to Council's service delivery and we thank the community for their patience.
Employees who take the notified protected industrial action will be locked out from their employment immediately following the commencement of the protected action on Wednesday 3 September 2025 from 6am, until Thursday 4 September 2025, 5pm, or until commencement of their usual duties the next day.
