It pays to be united

On the evening of Thursday 13 October 2011, the O’Farrell Government made its first attack on Local Government employees’ pay and conditions.

 Whilst most Council workers were at home relaxing after dinner, the O’Farrell Government moved a bill in the Lower House of the New South Wales (NSW) Parliament that reduced employment protections for redundancies and corporatised Local Government.

Reduced Employment Protection
In 2004, the USU successfully lobbied the previous State Government to protect employees who were transferred to another council because of boundary changes or council amalgamations. The Local Government Act was amended to include no forced redundancies of non-senior employees for a period of three (3) years after transfer.

The O’Farrell Government has attempted to reduce the employment protections from three (3) years to one (1) year.
This move against workers is a part of the agenda to amalgamate councils and reduce the numbers of employees.

Corporatisation     
Local Government was decorporatised in 2008. In an effort to keep Local Government in NSW out of the federal system the USU successfully lobbied the previous State Government to change the legal status of councils. This meant that all councils in NSW were no longer considered to be corporations and remained in the state Industrial Relations system.

For more information contact your Organiser.