By Sue Bull
CANBERRA — As Kate Carnell, chief minister of the ACT, begged the Legislative Assembly for an extra $14.2 million to fix the hole in the 1995-96 ACT budget, unions considered whether to reimpose industrial action.
During the last few weeks the government has tried to renege on its commitments to unions. It has also had difficulty getting agreements ratified with the Industrial Relations Commission, and negotiations are now proceeding with the ACT Trades and Labour Council to have each of the union agreements ratified separately as agency agreements.
Community and Public Sector Union members were told at a mass meeting on April 17, however, that their agreement may not proceed to ratification due to several problems on the government's side. CPSU members decided that, if the government did not resolve these problems, all bans would be reimposed on April 23.
Also unable to reach a satisfactory agreement with government, the Australian Education Union is considering escalating its industrial action. The ACT government has offered members an 8% wage rise over 24 months. According to Clive Haggar, president of the ACT branch of the AEU, "At the end of the two-year period of the agreement, teachers would be half a per cent behind where they are now in real terms". At a stop-work meeting on April 23, the union's leadership will recommend rejection of the government's offer.