Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / United Workers Union's Lead Organiser Bronnie Channon says depot workers are kicking off industrial action due to unfair treatment from City of Darwin

Transcript

United Workers Union's Lead Organiser Bronnie Channon says depot workers are kicking off industrial action due to unfair treatment from City of Darwin · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But what we do know that today the City of
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Darwin depot workers have now joined correctional officers as well
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: as firefighters and Danilla Dilbert workers in protected industrial action,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: with a group kicking off industrial action today. So I'm
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: joined on the line right now by the United Workers
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Union NT lead organizer Bronnie Shannon Channon.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Bronnie, Good morning Katie. How are
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: you sare really well?
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time. What kind of well,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: what's happening today?
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Firstly, okay, so our members at the City of Darwin
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: who work in the depot are taking some protected action.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: The protected action is basically a solidarity action in terms
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: of they'll be wearing union hats the first That is
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: just the start. I think the biggest problem was is
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: that last week there was an issue with the behavior
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: of the City of Dohen. The bosses there had threatened
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: to actually lock our members out for wearing union hats.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Right, is that normal for them to threaten doing something
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: like that.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: Well, we would see that as a complete overreaction, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: it was actually an inability of them to be able
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: to read a notice that we provided that said that's
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: what they were going to do that. They were going
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: to be wearing a hat with a union logo, on
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: a high brids vest with a logo on a Union
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: logo on it, and maybe putting a magnet on a
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: car that had a union logo on it, and they
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: reacted in this way. They've since retracted part of that,
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: but of course this just inflamed the issues because this
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: is all about the fact that they continue to try
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: and cut our members pay and conditions. And we've been
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: negotiating with the City of Darwin for eighteen months now.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: So Bronnie, I guess to a lot of people listening
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: this morning, they're going to be thinking, oh, well, does
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: it really matter, you know, if somebody is wearing a
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: union hat or not. Is that going to make a
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: difference when it comes to their paying conditions changing in
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: any way? So obviously that's the first step in that
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: industrial election.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Is there going to be further action taken?
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Well, I think that depends entirely on the behavior and
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: the offers that the City of Darwin decide to put
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: on the table. I mean, currently they're not listening to
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: our members, and you know, they can't afford people can't
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: afford to take a pay cut they can't afford to
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: have their conditions constantly being under.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Its at.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: We all know that there's a rising cost of living
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: for everybody. Our members just want to be able to
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: pay their bill.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: And so what exactly is the council proposing here, Bronnie?
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Are they are they proposing that their wages get cut
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: or are they proposing similar to what the government had
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: with some government workers where it's frozen.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: The problem is is that they're there. They've already they
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: already took a pay freeze. So in twenty twenty, they
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: were we were meant to start negotiations and the City
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: of Darwin decided that they just weren't going to do it.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: They were going to freeze it for a year. This
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: our members and the workers that City of Darwin had
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: no say in this. And so they feel like they've
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: had a pay freeze already without any negotiation before that,
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: and so they haven't seen a pay increase since September
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: twenty nineteen.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: And so, Bronnie, what do those depot workers want out
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: of today?
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: They would like to just get some support. They want
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: to have their employer actually listen to their claims and
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: take their claims seriously. Because up until now, this is
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: not what's been happening. I think it would be great
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: if the people out there in Darwin who enjoyed the
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: services of our members out in the gardens providing all
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: the services and cleaning up and rubbish picking up, rubbish
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: cleaning the toilets and all of those things that people
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: expect if they see someone, if they see one of
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: our members out there wearing their union hats, they say
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: hi and give some support.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: It's a bloody hard job, I would suspect, you know.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I often think to myself when I'm out early on
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: a Sunday morning, going for a run around d S
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Point and.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: You see the council workers.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: They're cleaning up, doing a lot of work really in
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the very early hours of the morning.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: It would be it'd be a tough job, I would imagine.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Extremely tough. I mean, you think about the climate that
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: we have here and these are all outdoor workers working
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: in what are now particularly extreme conditions.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Bronnie, Are they the only ones that are taking protected
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: industrial action or can we expect some further industrial action
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: around the place. I know I've driven past the fire
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: station there in Stuart Park and there's lots of posters
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: up there is that part of some of the protected
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: industrial action that's happening.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: Yes, I can confirm that the City of Darwin depot
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: workers have now joined the correctional officers, the firefighters and
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: the workers at Tanella Dulba in their protected protected industrial action.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: All right, So it's going to be an interesting time, Bronnie.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I know that you know that some may be hoping
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: now that we've had a leadership change with the Chief Minister,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that there might be some change to the concerns that
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: are being raised by, you know, by some of these
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: various departments or people working in the.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: I don't I don't know whether I should be speculating
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: on that.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: All right, we won't get you in trouble, Bronnie. We
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: for having a chat with us.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Katie.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: We appreciate it.