Due to a pay dispute and after last Thursday’s strike, the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) was planning to strike again on Friday, February 28 during peak hours, from 4pm to 6pm. Luckily, the strike has been postponed for now, as 1000 members of The Services Union walked off the job earlier today and Council slightly increased its pay offer in the second year of the deal in response, reaching a tentative agreement that may prevent further industrial action.
The impact of Thursday’s strike, which ran from 2pm to 4pm included shutting down most of Brisbane’s 33 libraries, council’s call centre taking only emergency calls, and delays to multiple bus services. Council fire crews, food safety inspectors and works depots were also affected.
The council had met with the RTBU on Friday, February 14, with the union asking for a 7 per cent pay rises for all council workers, not just bus drivers, per year for two years. The council countered with about half that rate, which it argues is still above the national inflation rate of 2.5 percent.
For their part, librarians and call centre staff had been offered a 7.25 per cent pay rise across the next two years, but their union was pushing for 8.7 per cent and backpay to October 2024, when their existing agreement expired. This was a key sticking point in the four-month long dispute, as backpay was estimated at around $2.5m.
As union members prepared to demonstrate at Reddacliff Place during today’s strike, TSU lead organiser Tom Rivers announced that progress had been made with the council, “We feel like recently, we’ve got something out of every meeting we’ve had with council,” he said.
“We have got significant movement, and it’s come off the back off us balloting our members for industrial action and then us taking industrial action.”
For his part, RTBU leader Tom Brown has held firm that the union has acted in good faith throughout, giving commuters advance notice of industrial action and postponing a planned stoppage on Wednesday to avoid affecting Kylie Minogue concert-goers.
Deputy Mayor Fiona Cunningham declared negotiations a victory, saying, “The wage agreement we have reached ensures council staff will receive a pay rise well above inflation but well below the outlandish initial claims by unions.”
“This fair and reasonable outcome allows us to keep costs down for residents and continue delivering the services and infrastructure needed to keep Brisbane moving.’’
At this point, the new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement would provide a pay rise of 7.35 per cent over two years — meaning a 3.75 per cent rise, compared with the current 2.4 per cent annual inflation rate — and they would receive another 3.6 per cent in the second year, an increase of 0.6 per cent on council’s previous offer. Finally, backpay was agreed upon, dating back until October 8 of last year.