Council & Business
27 August, 2024
Council against multi-enterprise agreement with Ararat despite staff backing
The Central Goldfields Shire Council has objected to a petition which sought to secure “stronger rights” for the organisation’s workforce.
Despite being backed by a majority of its employees, the Maryborough-based council has opposed a multi-enterprise agreement application initiated by the Australian Services Union (ASU).
Under an agreement of this kind, employees from different organisations can collectively bargain for wage increases and improved conditions.
As proposed by ASU, the new laws would cover the Central Goldfields and Ararat councils — providing “an opportunity for the sector to work together to get better outcomes for workers...”.
However, out of the two bodies, only Ararat has consented to the application.
According to the union, even though over 100 workers have signed the petition, the local council has continued to raise objections.
If it were to be successfully adopted, the agreement would include all council employees, other than the CEO.
“The ASU first approached Central Goldfields Shire Council in March about the idea and workers begun collecting a petition in June,” an ASU spokesperson said.
Since then the appeal has received signatures from more than 50 percent of staff members — who are pushing for a “better deal than the one they’ve been getting”.
“The last enterprise agreement delivered a wage increase of 1.5 percent — the new multi-enterprise laws give workers stronger rights to secure fair wage increases,” the ASU said.
“There are benefits for councils too — this is an opportunity to set a standard for local government wages and conditions across regional Victoria.
“Once Central Goldfields and Ararat establish a multi-employer agreement, workers at other regional councils will have the opportunity to join that agreement via a vote of workers, rather than pursue their own agreements.”
While ASU is “ready to bargain”, there’s a significant impediment to get through.
“The bad news is Central Goldfields has objected to the petition and argues workers did not provide informed consent when they signed the petition,” ASU added.
“[We are] submitting evidence [to the Fair Work Commission] regarding how the petition was collected and we are confident that workers provided informed consent when signing the petition.”
An outcome is pending, with the matter currently before the commission.
With deliberations underway, the Central Goldfields Shire Council’s acting general manager corporate performance Philippa Spurling said the organisation is also weighing up its options.
“Council is currently considering what is in the best interests of our workforce and community, in relation to the ASU application before the Fair Work Commission,” she said.
The Advertiser also asked council to explain its stand against the application and whether it would support the petition if ASU provides necessary evidence to match council’s claim around lack of informed consent.
However, council did not provide a comment for the same.
“ASU is ready and willing to commence bargaining for a multi-enterprise agreement and we have made that clear to Central Goldfields for over four months and counting,” the union said.
“It is disappointing that Central Goldfields continue to frustrate this process by their opposition...”
If the agreement goes ahead, it would be the first of its kind in Victoria, as no other local government body in the state currently operates under a multi-enterprise agreement.