Warrnambool Council have sought to ram through a new workplace agreement to cut off workers' avenue to Victoria's first industry wide local government enterprise agreement.
In what shapes as the first opportunity to capitalise on new laws allowing for multi-employer workplace agreements, the Australian Services Union is leading negotiations on a wages deal proposed to cover all regional Council workers.
ASU Victorian and Tasmanian Authorities & Services Branch Secretary Tash Wark said a growing number of staff were calling for a new approach to workplace bargaining, with a multi-employer agreement proposed to cover all regional Council workers in Victoria.
"We have been transparent with Warrnambool Council throughout this process, and management know their staff want a multi-employer agreement," Ms Wark said.
"This is a chance to get one, common sense agreement in place to cover all regional Council workers and a much needed pay rise for hard working staff.
"Instead of engaging with that process in good faith, management are seeking to ram through a sub-standard workplace agreement."
Workers in local governments across Victoria have voiced a preference for a multi-employer agreement which would see them banding together to negotiate common pay increases and working conditions.
Ms Wark said the ASU's proposal is for one multi-employer agreement would cover all regional Council workers across Victoria.
"This collective approach to bargaining would replace the inefficient, expensive, and prolonged process of bargaining at each Council separately.
"Workers at these Councils are performing similar work in similar circumstances but pay rates and conditions can vary vastly between councils.
"Our members have had enough of seeing their working conditions suppressed due to out-dated approaches to bargaining that allow employers to abandon bargaining and exhaust their workers into accepting sub-standard offers.
"Warrnambool Council need to respect the call of their staff to engage with this process, instead of trying to impose a rushed process and substandard set of working conditions on them."
The Union is recommending staff vote "no" the single enterprise agreement. If the agreement is supported by staff, then Warrnambool City Council workers will be locked out of the multi-employer agreement.
The vote for the single enterprise agreement opens this Friday and closes 23 June.
