ASU Members at City of Campbelltown Fight on for Fairness

ASU members at the City of Campbelltown knew their wages were falling behind industry standards. When negotiations for their new Enterprise Agreement commenced in March 2005 they knew it was time to address their issue.

Many members were earning up to $4000 less than their colleagues performing the same work in other councils with City of Campbelltown also having less staff per head of population than any other in the State. Members decided they had a very strong case to say that they are doing more with less, achieving good outcomes on Council's behalf but not being fairly renumerated.

Unfortunately the CEO has from the beginning of negotiations insisted that staff accept CPI wage increases with up to a further 1.5% available only if they achieve a number of productivity gains during the life of the Agreement. Management have refused to address the issues raised by members and have instead asked for justification for any wage increase better than CPI received.

Frustrated and concerned ASU members have been organising for a fair wage outcome. Their first action was a Your Rights At Work day on which all staff proudly wore their bright orange stickers as a way of showing management that they were prepared to stick together for fairness. When there was no discernible shift from Management ASU members wrote to elected members and attended a Council meeting to demonstrate their concern. A number of elected members have stated that they were surprised to find how few staff Council has currently employed and how far behind their wages are. These elected members have now joined ASU members in their fight for a fair wage outcome.

Members say that they are not giving in and if a fairer offer is not forthcoming they will be proceeding with their campaign and taking further action.