There’s a lot of front line workers employed in the government sector who are pissed off with the Victorian State Government at the moment.
It was only a few weeks ago that tens of thousands of public school educators walked off the job in a historic 24 hour stop work action and their first in more than a decade after they rejected the State Government’s pathetic offer.
Medical scientists, dietitions and others represented by the Medical Scientists Association of Victoria (or the Health Services Union Victoria No. 4 Branch) employed in the public health sector did a strike action merely days after (which we weren’t there for). It was their first strike action since 2012.
Rewind even further back to last year and we had the mental health workforce in the public health sector also doing strike actions.
Fast forward to today and its Council workers across eight Metropolitan Councils turn to down tools for a 24 hour strike action and mass rally for fair wages and conditions, which aren’t keeping pace with cost of living because - yep you guessed it - the State Government refuses to fund councils properly while restricting the ability of councils to raise funds for the services they provide through legislation that caps annual rates increases.
The striking workforce range from librarians, to maintenance workers, to carers, to street sweepers, to cleaners, to rubbish collectors. Just about every type of worker employed in any front line service that a council provides to its residents, and who ten tends to the amenity of local neighbourhoods, was represented.
We could certainly think of some things that the State Government should stop funding so excessively instead of crying poor; and so that essential services don’t continue to crumble; and so that front line workers who are employed to provide these services don’t continue to be ripped off with lousy pay and conditions… but we digress.
We certainly think that council executives should take a pay cut as well, though that’s only a small solution for rot that, as described above, is majorly systemic and baked in to current policy of the State Government.
Here’s a photo recap of today’s mass rally of Council workers, organised by the Australian Services Union, that formed part of the 24-hour strike action.
Senator Lisa Darmanin speaks to the rally of striking council workers and praises the Albanese Government for changing workplace regulations to allow bargaining for agreements that cover multiple related work sites (in this case: council workers from across multiple councils).
To its credit, this is actually one of the actually good things the current Federal Government has done.
Darmanin was the State Secretary of the ASU Victorian/Tasmanian branch until she became a Senator.
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