'A no brainer': Council workers plan rally to demand fairer pay

Jordyn Smith works at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, part-time Thursday to Sunday, and has so for three years.

Ms Smith enjoys her work, as she's a naturally creative person, it's a good fit for her. Ms Smith can pay her rent and survive but has casual staff who are struggling to pay their rent - this is why she is supporting the City of Ballarat staff taking industrial action to get better wages.

Ms Smith is also the Australian Services Union delegate for the art gallery, just one of the many different areas staffed by council workers.

"Until I was a delegate and became more involved in the union, I wasn't aware of the systematic, on-going saving the council had been making on staff wages and not reimbursing that back into the staff, and putting it into cost blowouts across town," she said.

Ms Smith said the fair wage increase would be so some council staff could have a liveable wage.

"Some of the lowest paid people who work with us (at council) are our school crossing supervisors who keep our children safe, work in the cold and the rain - they are also pensioners but the pension doesn't cover much any more," she said.

"How are they affording to pay their rent?"

Ms Smith said casual staff have multiple jobs to survive.

"One casual member has three jobs, another can't afford to repair their car because they're not being paid enough," she said.

Ms Smith said a colleague left for a job at the Geelong council just a few weeks ago for better pay.

"I really love my job and I love who I work, with but everyone deserves to be paid a liveable wage. It's a no brainer," she said.

"They're barely able to afford rent. It shouldn't be the norm that someone needs to work multiple jobs to be able to support themselves."

City of Ballarat workers voted to take industrial action on May 2 after voting down the first enterprise bargaining agreement offered from council management in March.

Numerous meetings had taken place for EBA negotiations.

The union is pushing for five per cent increase for their first year, backdated to September 2023 when the last EBA expired, and six per cent for the following two years in the agreement.

They claim this would bring the City of Ballarat's staff wages up to match other regional local governments.

Council management, offered a pay increase of 3.5 per cent in year one, 2.5 per cent in year two and 80 per cent of the rate cap in year three in its first offer.

The current offer put forward to council staff, and voted down by ASU representatives, offers a 3.5 per cent pay increase, or $43 a week, whichever was higher for the first year, then 3.5 per cent or $45 a week for the second year and 3.5 per cent or $47 a week, whichever was higher, for year three.

According to the 2022-23 City of Ballarat annual report, the art gallery had 113,734 visitors, and is one of the oldest regional art galleries in Australia, home to millions of dollars worth of art.

Ms Smith said there was a lot of frustration over the council having saved millions by not filling staff vacancies and not using that to pay their current staff "over at least four years".

"We haven't had an education officer for over 12 months at the art gallery, we've had contractors that are amazing, two teachers who have kept the education program going," she said.

"We've only just hired a business service officer which was open for nearly 12 months. They're keeping these roles vacant for such an extended period of time, we're working twice as hard to make sure these things don't slip through the gaps."

Art Gallery staff have been putting up messages on the front and rear windows, which have been cleaned off by the council, Ms Smith said.

She said the first lot were cleaned two hours after being put up, and the second were up for two days.

"We wrote on the window fours times over the weekend and it got taken down three times," Ms Smith said.

The gallery has a petition people can sign, with staff wearing their union t-shirts and making announcements about the wage increases.

The union will decide on whether to extend industrial action as the notice of industrial action expires on Wednesday, May 22.

Council workers and union members will rally at the front of town hall at 5.30pm on Wednesday.

In regards to "savings" from staff vacancies, a City of Ballarat spokesperson said the $3.6 million was a one-off amount.

"Throughout the year, it had temporarily vacant positions - that is the time between the departure date of staff leaving and the commencement date of the replacement beginning. These are not permanent savings," the spokesperson said.

"It would be financially irresponsible to fund an ongoing cost increase such as wage rises out of one-off savings from temporarily vacant positions."

Council responded to the cleaning of the messages, with a spokesperson stating City of Ballarat acknowledges the right of its employees who are ASU members to take Protected Industrial Action.

"However, the City of Ballarat retains the right to remove any defacing to City of Ballarat property," they said.

"There have been no additional costs associated with the removal of non-permanent messages."

The spokesperson said management said proposed new enterprise agreement offers a fair wage increase of 10.5 per cent over three years,3.5 per cent each year, including backpay to September 30, 2023.

"These figures are complemented by a minimum fixed dollar increase - $43 in 2023/24, $45 in 2024/25 and $47 in 2025/26 - to ensure lower banded employees receive comparable dollar increases to higher banded employees, in particular Band 1 to 3," the spokesperson said.

"This pay increase is a leading offer across the local government sector."

City of Ballarat management believes the proposed new enterprise agreement is a fair and equitable offer that takes into account cost of living pressures while also being financially sustainable for the City of Ballarat into the future.

"If a vote on the proposed new agreement is unsuccessful, management will recommence negotiations with relevant unions and union delegates as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

"If this was to occur, City of Ballarat management will remain committed to bargaining in good faith with relevant unions and union delegates."