Workers call for end to council’s phony war
We just want a fair pay rise
Cairns Regional Council employees are sick of being threatened, accusing the Council of waging a phony war to undermine their legitimate claims for decent wages and conditions. They are calling on the CEO and the Cairns Regional Council to stop playing games with their livelihood!
Workers are furious with the way they are being portrayed by Queensland’s second wealthiest Council in media reports. The workers have only received piece meal administrative increases which pail into insignificance compared to the increases received by Mayor Manning and his Councillors during the same period.
Electrical Trades Union’s Far North organiser Rob Hill said workers are at breaking point and can’t understand why the Council continues to block every reasonable avenue to settle the bitter EBA negotiations.
“The way Council is behaving means hardworking Council workers are going backwards in real terms against the cost of living, as the administrative increases don’t even come close to keeping pace with CPI”
“Council bluster and bluff in the media about making sure workers have a visible vote on any proposed agreement while they continue to block sensible avenues to agreement, It’s a phony war. Then to make matters worse they threaten to cut workers’ wages already going backwards, even further, by dropping them back to the Award, it is disgraceful”
Mr. Hill drew attention to the Council’s out of balance priorities to explain why workers felt so angry.
“They see Council splashing money around when it comes to the Cairns Performing Arts Centre, where Council have nonchalantly signed off on millions of extra dollars due to “Scope Creep”. They see the Council’s PR team boasting about a $1.8 million surplus and a massive $160 million-dollar infrastructure spend, and they the workers are rightfully asking, “Why is Council refusing to pay responsible pay increases that would cost Council a fraction of those spends?” He said.
“Many workers are concluding that Council is building visible infrastructure instead of providing decent wage increases and properly funding critical underground maintenance in a crude attempt to get re-elected” Their message to Councillors and Mayor Manning is “it won’t work”