City Council Workers Reject Howard’s Workplace Laws

Administrative and professional staff at Adelaide City Council have overwhelming rejected Council Management attempts to force them onto a Howard style workplace agreement.

Despite being told by ASU employee representatives that their staff did not want an agreement made under the Federal Government's new laws because they know it will be bad for them in both the short and long-term, Council Management still insisted putting it out to ballot. It was also implied that should staff not accept the agreement they may not get the back-pay to which they are entitled.

Despite this the result was a 77% rejection of the proposed agreement.

"This clearly demonstrates that once workers understand the consequences of making a so-called 'agreement' under these anti-worker laws and understand they have a choice they don't want a bar of it" said Australian Services Union Branch Secretary, Andy Dennard. "We now call on new CEO Stuart Moseley to respect the wishes of his employees and instruct his management team to sit down and negotiate a collective agreement that does not abolish the workers Award, does not restrict what they can ask for and does not reduce conditions.

This rejection by Adelaide City Council staff follows hard on the heels of staff at the City of Prospect rejecting a similar deal by over 90% in a ballot and reflects an increasing trend of SA Councils and their workers looking at alternative forms of agreement making that don't involve the risks to pay and conditions inherent in using the Federal Governments laws.