Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Community and Public Sector Union NT secretary David Villegas says pay rises and lump sum payments will be rolled out to public servants in the coming months

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Community and Public Sector Union NT secretary David Villegas says pay rises and lump sum payments will be rolled out to public servants in the coming months · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now the public sector workers, they're finally going to be
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: receiving the pay rise that they were promised by the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory government in October last year after their union
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: escalated the matter to the Fair Work Commission. In April,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: public servants were to receive a pay rise of two
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars or two percent, whichever was greater, but there
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: was silence on the roll out. Now joining me on
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  Speaker 1: the line to explain the latest development is David Vilagas,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: who is indeed the CPSU MPTY secretary. Good morning to you, David,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Thanks so much for your time mate. What's
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  Speaker 1: been agreed to with regards to the pay rise for
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  Speaker 1: public servants?
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  Speaker 2: So we met with government representatives late yesterday afternoon and
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  Speaker 2: they informed that they will not only pass on the
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  Speaker 2: two percent or two thousand dollars pay increase that was
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  Speaker 2: originally promised in October, but they will also be paying
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  Speaker 2: two thousand dollars lump sum payments this year and next
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  Speaker 2: year as well. And that's really significant because that had
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  Speaker 2: originally been taken completely off the table and is now
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: going to be passed on to our members.
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  Speaker 1: So who will that who exactly is going to be
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  Speaker 1: eligible for.
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  Speaker 2: That, So that'll be everybody who comes under the General
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  Speaker 2: Agreement and the Jacana agreements, So that's well over ten
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  Speaker 2: thousand workers across the public service.
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  Speaker 1: How quickly are you thinking that it's going to roll out?
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  Speaker 2: So the Jacana Agreement, the payments are expected on the
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  Speaker 2: first of July, which is when people should receive their
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  Speaker 2: first pay increases to their salaries and the lump sum
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  Speaker 2: and the General Agreement will not be until the tenth
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  Speaker 2: of August.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right now. I know we do have a lot
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  Speaker 1: of public servants that listen to this show, so for
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  Speaker 1: some of them, this might even be the first time
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  Speaker 1: that they're hearing that this is actually going through. Are
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  Speaker 1: you going to be notifying them all in other ways
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that they understand they are going to
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  Speaker 1: get this pay rise.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we're sending out. We sent our communications this morning.
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  Speaker 2: We're holding a meeting today, so I hope you've received
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the inby Please come along and please share it with
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: your colleagues as well, and you can ask questions directly.
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  Speaker 2: But we'll also have plenty of avenues for people to
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  Speaker 2: reach out to clarify anything at all in relation to
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  Speaker 2: the pay rises and how they'll receive them over the
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  Speaker 2: next few months.
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  Speaker 1: And is there any compensation to make up for the
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  Speaker 1: fact that the staff have been waiting since October?
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  Speaker 2: No, And I think that's sort of government to explain why.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we will see what we what we can
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  Speaker 1: find out. Tell me, I mean, are you disappointed with
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  Speaker 1: the way in which this is all rolled out and
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  Speaker 1: the fact that you've had to get to the point
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  Speaker 1: where you're going to you know, to the Fair Work Commission?
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  Speaker 2: Of course, I mean, obviously it didn't have to be
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  Speaker 2: this difficult, But I think more more importantly, our members
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  Speaker 2: should really feel a strong sense of vindication. It's not
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  Speaker 2: every day that the Fair Work Commission will hardly agrees
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  Speaker 2: with our position. I mean, one thing is for unions
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  Speaker 2: to go out into the community and say this is wrong,
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  Speaker 2: this is wrong. People expect that, right. But when you
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  Speaker 2: have a third party, a third completely disinterested party like
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  Speaker 2: the Fair Work Commission saying actually, yeah, waiting six months
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  Speaker 2: after you made an announcement is not okay. You need
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  Speaker 2: to sort this out. And then members, by making an
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  Speaker 2: effort going to Fair Work Commission, making the case, meeting
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  Speaker 2: with a government representative, not only did we get the
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: pay increase that was promised, but they got more. They
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  Speaker 2: got more as a result of this effort. So I
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  Speaker 2: think while it is really frustrating, I just really want
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  Speaker 2: members to appreciate that, you know, they've been vindicated by
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  Speaker 2: this outcome.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Well, David belagas CPSU INT Secretary, I really appreciate your
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  Speaker 1: time this morning. Thank you so very much for having
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: a chat to us and making us aware of the situation.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you