BY RUSSELL PICKERING

PERTH — A lunch-time mass meeting of 1000 public service employees on September 17 voted to begin an industrial campaign in support of better pay and conditions after Premier Geoff Gallop government's refusal of anything greater than a 9% pay rise over three years.

Since July, the state Labor government has tied up negotiations with the Community and Public Sector Union/Civil Service Association with a cumbersome decision-making process in which the union never gets to directly negotiate with government bodies.

The claim from the union includes: a 12% parity payment and an extra $5502 on January 1, 2004, 10% on January 2005 and an extra $6680 on January 1, 2006; the establishment of processes that properly measure and define a reasonable workload; the restoration of union members' rights to access the Industrial Relations Commission and a review of government employment practices.

CPSU/CSA state secretary Toni Walkington told the meeting that the government's offer of a 3% pay rise amounted to a pay cut in light of current interest rates and that 1% of the rise was tied to trade offs from government departments.

The meeting voted unanimously in support of industrial actions including a ban on both paid and unpaid overtime, regional and sector wide stoppages, refusal to process revenue payments and refusal to collect payments for services to the public. The meeting also resolved that union members not take action against other members implementing these actions.

A day after the meeting the Gallop government created a furore by announcing it had granted WA police a pay riseof 15%.

From Green Left Weekly, September 24, 2003.
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