Sunshine Coast Council negotiations in full Swing

The Services Union is acutely aware of the cost-of-living pressures members are experiencing at Sunshine Coast Council. When we met with the Council for further Certified Agreement (CA) talks last week, we tabled a pay claim for 13% in year one, with 6% or CPI for the second and third years.

We explained that the initial 13% was to recognise both the current headline CPI (7.8%) and the shortfall between the existing CA and the CPI movements over the last three years (5%), with a slight margin on top (0.2%) for the productivity you have delivered in that time. The Council countered with a proposal of 6%, 4% and 3%. Clearly there is some distance between this proposal and the current economic indicators.

The Council also proposed reducing some existing entitlements, including expanding the span of ordinary hours to 5am – 7pm for some work groups and watering down the wording of your Dispute Resolution Procedure. We have requested more details on these claims.

The Council did propose some improvements, including enhanced parental leave, support for staff with disabilities, paid leave for Sorry Business, cultural requirements and Gender Affirmation, and the ability to access a “One Day My Day” per year from accumulated Personal Leave. While members will no doubt welcome these improvements, our member survey confirms that the main game remains the current cost of living, with workload management a close second. If you have not yet completed the survey, please do so here.

We’re back at the table for further CA talks this Wednesday 1 March. In the meantime, if you work with someone who is feeling the pinch and wants to do something about it, remind them what we’re doing and that joining is easy online.