Four-day week stays at Baw Baw

Four-day week stays at Baw Baw

In another win for union solidarity, the outdoor workers at the Baw Baw Shire Council won their right to retain a four-day week after the council’s plans for a nine-day fortnight were quashed.

After meetings with the Industrial Relations Commission and the support of members from the ASU National Office’s Keith Harvey, management at the Baw Baw Shire Council decided to retain the four-day week with new provisions that have been agreed upon by employees.

ASU organiser Richard Lodders was glad an agreement was reached before industrial action was taken.

“The council did not give us any adequate reasons as to why they wanted to change to a nine-day week, especially considering the outdoor staff was consistently high in the ratings in relation to how well they maintained the open spaces they were in charge of. The work was certainly being done well,” said Richard, who said that a wide range of employees from the Council were behind the outdoor staff’s fight for a retention of a four-day week.

“We had meetings with both indoor and outdoor staff and there was strong support that the outdoor staff retain their ten-hour, four-day week. It was great to see that employees across the board were still supportive of the outdoor staff, despite it not having a direct impact on them.”

But management at the council certainly weren’t backing down.

“The EBA didn’t expire until December 22, 2007, and with management sticking to their guns about a nine-day fortnight, we had to apply for a ballot with the arbitration commission to hold a secret ballot to take protected Industrial action. It took some time to get paperwork correct, but once that was done, we lodged an application for a hearing with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC). Keith Harvey from the ASU National Office represented the union, but the council opposed our application on the grounds that the industrial action that the ASU were taking was ambiguous,” added Richard, who received pleasing news from the AIRC as the dispute intensified.

“The commission gave leave for us to conduct a ballot by the AIRC and overwhelmingly gave us support to take action. In the meantime, we had also listed a hearing with Commissioner Smith and deferred any Industrial Action for 30 days until we could have that hearing.”

“We then had another 30-day extension to take industrial action, during which another hearing was held with Commissioner Smith. Following that meeting, it was agreed that the members maintain their current working arrangements with some modification on the how the four-day week was going to operate, along with a review on the life of the agreement.”

Richard puts management’s backflip down to a strong union base at Baw Baw.

“I believe we were successful in maintaining the conditions because the employees at Baw Baw Shire Council stuck together throughout the ordeal. Keith Harvey also must be congratulated for articulating our case extremely well.”

Baw Baw Shire Council outdoor worker and ASU member Glen Wilkinson couldn’t have been any happier with the result.

“We are very pleased with the outcome. All members were very adamant to stick by their guns, and we found that more and more people were joining the union before and after the result. It also helped outdoor and indoor staff become more united,” said Glen, who was pleased to show management that the staff stood untied.

“I think the management thought they may put us off our game, but that wasn’t the case. We all stuck together and got the result we wanted, and it was thanks to people like Richard Lodders, who was a great help. It’s a load off our shoulders and shows what happens when you stick together.”