By Kim Linden
MELBOURNE — After a spirited fight at the end of March, Victorian child protection workers returned to work in April hoping to have their case heard before the Employee Relations Commission (ERC). The workers are fighting the Department of Health and Community Services (DH&CS) for a wage rise, the reinstatement of holiday loading and the retention of their collective agreement.
The State Public Services Federation of Victoria is representing the workers in three separate legal battles. The 4% wage claim is being deliberated on by the ERC, which has established compulsory arbitration for setting minimum rates of pay.
The DH&CS has stopped negotiating with the SPSFV over the collective agreement covering work conditions for child protection workers. The SPSFV claims that a clause in the collective agreement binds the employer to any decisions made by the ERC. The SPSFV wants the ERC to direct the DH&CS to negotiate with the union.
The government has responded by saying that the ERC cannot rule on the issue. As the contract under which the collective agreement was made falls within common law, not industrial law, the SPSFV is now having to battle the issue out in the Magistrates' Court. The trial is set for May 25.
The workers' claim for reinstatement of their holiday loading has also been set for trial for the same reason. The case will be heard sometime in June.
SPSFV general secretary Karen Batt and press secretary Julian Kennelly argue that one of workers' most fundamental rights is to have an industrial dispute heard before an industrial court. Kennelly believes that the Australian Industrial Relations Commission was a fair and just system of dealing with industrial issues: "Having matters dealt with under common law as opposed to industrial law is very expensive for workers and very time consuming."
Kennelly told Green Left Weekly that if the court does not grant the wage claim, holiday pay and negotiations between the union and the DH&CS, the SPSFV will take further industrial action.