Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.

Health and Community Service Union - 98% OF DISABILITY WORKERS VOTE ‘YES’ IN FAVOUR OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION!

10th April 2008

Following a 98% ‘yes’ vote in a secret protected action ballot, Disability Professionals and Support Workers voted unanimously to implement industrial action at a statewide meeting held at Trades Hall this morning.

“We’ve been negotiating with the Department of Human Services for four months now and they still haven’t given us an offer,” said Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) state secretary Lloyd Williams. “We are forced into a position where we have to take industrial action starting with a four hour stoppage across the Eastern Metropolitan region next Wednesday.”

A 98% ‘yes’ vote in the secret protected action ballot is one of the highest ever received by a union under the current workplace relations legislation.

The four hour stoppage on Wednesday will include a protest outside the office of Brumby Government Minister Tony Robertson in Blackburn. Rolling stoppages will continue across the state with a different metropolitan or country region affected every day until the dispute is settled.

“The key issues for our members in this campaign are pay equity, improved career structures matched to better training standards and additional resources to deal with workloads and provide clients with greater individualised support,” said Mr Williams. “DHS have failed to act in good faith and failed to make an offer to settle our claims, so we are forced to take industrial action.”

The statewide meeting also resolved to take a range of other actions including bans on accepting time in lieu of overtime pay, bans on cooperation with roster changes, a ban on the use of private vehicles for work purposes and a ban on on-call and recall.


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