Liam McNally
Star Weekly is taking a look back at 2023. Here’s one of our biggest stories from last year.
Melton council employees have commenced protected industrial action in protest of staff shortages and wages.
Over the coming weeks Australian Services Union (ASU) members at the council will introduce indefinite or periodic bans on a number of council activities including school-time parking patrols, issuing notices to comply, and after-hours stray dog pickups, as well as attaching union campaign materials on walls, shelves, and in areas normally used for council signage.
ASU branch decretary Lisa Darmanin said union members at the council “love serving their community, but can’t provide adequate assistance to the public if they keep losing co-workers”.
“Melton staff are some of the lowest paid of any growth-area council in Victoria, with workers doing the same duties at other councils earning up to 10.5 per cent higher in some instances,” she said.
“When wages and conditions are better somewhere else, workers leave, and the ratepayers of Melton are left without proper services and staffing. Employees in customer service, libraries and community focused staff are leaving Melton to work for surrounding councils because they know they will be paid properly and that impacts on the community.”
According to the ASU, five senior members of the Melton library services have resigned in the last six months, leaving just one employee to cover their work across two sites.
The ASU said there are gaps in support staff across the workforce, leaving the Melton community under-resourced, and the union thinks the Melton community deserves better.
Over the next few weeks, union members will be wearing union stickers, handing out fliers, and stopping work at certain times.
“This will send a message to council that they need to treat their staff better, to ensure we can keep serving our community,” Ms Darmanin said.
Melton council chief executive Roslyn Wai said council has “just completed engagement with staff to understand workplace sentiment around the wage and entitlements offer made at the end of last year“.
“We look forward to returning to enterprise agreement negotiations in good faith this month,“ she said.
