Commission Approves Industrial Action at Toowoomba Regional Council
Members of The Services Union at Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) have turned out in force and overwhelmingly voted in favour of Protected Industrial Action, and rightly so. The Council continues to ignore the fact that it’s the second lowest paid Council in its category and has no plan to address the Gender Pay Gap while simultaneously passing on “Critical Skills Payments” to some sections of its workforce only widening that gap even further.
We met with the Council again last week only to be presented with the same tired line of sustainability and a refusal from the Council to budge from its position, all the while we have been fair and reasonable throughout the negotiations. Our Union has made the following points clear to the Council:
- Other Councils earn substantially more than you do; and
- Wage Relativity and the compression of Stream A employee’s wages at TRC are further increasing the gender pay gap. See TRC Wage Relativity info sheet for more information which doesn’t give consideration to the Critical Skills Payments being handed out.
Despite these points, Council believes they pay you enough. They don’t seem concerned that the wages of Stream A employees who are predominantly women have been compressed in comparison to Stream B and C employees and they obviously want you to do more with less given the Council advised last week that they will remove 200 vacant positions from the establishment.
The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission has approved the TSU application for members to engage in Industrial Action so our
STRIKE COMMITTEE will meet in the coming days to determine when Industrial Action will commence.
Have a question or want to be on the
STRIKE COMMITTEE as a contact point for members in your area? Reach out to your delegate or email TSU Organiser
[email protected].
Finally, we want to extend a warm welcome to the huge number of members who have joined our Union since the negotiations commenced.