Following 13 months of campaigning, on Wednesday 4 December NSW Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig announced a funding commitment to ensure the Waste Collection Fleet at Lismore Council remains in-house. This is a great win for the union and our members. It is also a win for local government services staying in-house!
To say that our affected Waste Collection members were both relieved and elated is an understatement.
USU Manager North Stephen Hughes says he has rarely seen such an emotional outpouring of gratitude and relief in his 40 years in Local Government and as a member, delegate and an official of the Union.
USU Secretary Graeme Kelly OAM said: “All of those involved should be proud of this great success.
“We have fought and campaigned tirelessly to have the efforts of our members who provide these front-line crucial services recognised, especially when many of them lost homes and their possessions in the record floods but still showed up to work, looking after their communities.
“The union is very proud of this result and thanks everyone for their involvement in the tireless campaign to protect local jobs and services.”
The union acknowledges Mayor Steve Krieg, Deputy Mayor Jeri Hall, the General Manager Jon Gibbons, the Director Brendan Logan and the Waste Supervisor Matt Potter with our local Delegate Ross Crawford for their hard work in our extensive political lobbying campaign to secure the funds needed to replace the fleet and to keep the Waste Collection Service in house.
WHERE IT BEGAN
In November 2023 the Union was tipped off that a motion was to be put to a vote at the Lismore City Council meeting that week to outsource Councils Waste Collection Service.
The United Services Union reacted quickly and a senior delegation of USU Officials including the USU General Secretary Graeme Kelly OAM, Manager North Stephen Hughes, Northern Industrial Officer Noel Martin and USU Organisers Nicole Eldridge and John Hickson converged on Lismore to commence our campaign to oppose this decision. The Union despatched its mobile signage vehicle to ensure that ratepayers were alerted to this council decision.
Meetings were immediately convened with affected USU members, Council Management and the Mayor including elected Councillors in an effort to first clarify and confirm what Council’s intentions were and to attend the Council meeting with our members, Delegates and supporters to show public support for retaining the service and to oppose the outsourcing.
It soon became apparent at the council meeting that the numbers in the Council meeting were against us and that a majority were going to vote that night to outsource the service.
While we had strong public support in the room, the Council cleared the meeting room, and a majority voted to outsource the Waste Collection Service.
The Union then sought and was given the support of some Councillors to call for a special meeting of Council for the following week, where a recission motion was put.
Unfortunately, this failed.
In the meantime, the matter was listed in the NSW Industrial Commission as Council had not complied with its Award obligations regarding consultation with affected staff and their Union (USU) before making their decision.
STRONG PUBLIC CAMPAIGN
This, along with our ongoing public campaign in the community led to discussions which should have occurred in the first place.
At the time we had taken a view that with the new General Manager being appointed just before this matter arose, that we were facing an ideology of outsourcing services and that the Waste Collection was only the beginning, one Councillor actually stated this on social media.
We did subsequently learn that there were other significant financial reasons that we were at that time unaware of that was driving this issue.
The Manager North and the Northern Industrial Officer travelled to Lismore multiple times with the local USU Organisers and Delegate and met with our members who all confirmed they wanted to keep their current jobs.
Their determination as a group to stay and not take redundancies was the vital first step in the campaign.
In meeting with management, it was claimed that the current Council management had inherited a mess regarding a decade of alleged failure by previous Management to budget for fleet maintenance and replacement across the organisation.
Waste collection trucks unfortunately are one of the most expensive items of plant to purchase and maintain especially once they reach their use by date.
We were able to independently confirm that only 2 of the fleet of 10 vehicles was still in their normal expected working life and that the fleet was breaking down daily, causing aggravation to the ratepayers and community and making the service appear to be inefficient and unreliable.
This had a significant impact on the morale of the truck operators.
Lismore Council and its community had endured two historic flooding events that decimated most of the community in destroying homes, businesses, infrastructure and possessions.
While Council had started receiving significant financial support to rebuild, this didn’t cover the replacement of the outdated Waste fleet.
The USU asked the Mayor and Council’s General Manager and the Department Director if they could give the USU the time to seek the funding required to replace the Waste fleet.
While they were initially understandably sceptical that it could be achieved and that we were not merely running a hopeless delaying tactic, they to their credit supported us in our efforts to secure the funding.
At this time it must be acknowledged that the Mayor Steve Krieg, Deputy Mayor Jeri Hall, the General Manager Jon Gibbons, the Director Brendan Logan and the Waste Supervisor Matt Potter with our local Delegate Ross Crawford all worked with us in our extensive political lobbying and campaign to secure the funds needed to replace the fleet and to keep the Waste Collection Service in house, thereby securing our members jobs and futures.
Local ALP State Member Janelle Saffin was a strong supporter and supported and participated in our efforts to get the Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig and the Premier the Hon Chris Minns to agree as without their support this could not have happened.
Meetings were held with the Minister, culminating in a meeting with the Premier himself, which the USU General Secretary, Northern Manager, the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Department Director of Council attended during which we were given a good hearing and which ended with the Premier giving his commitment that the funding would be found and allocated.
Up until this time, it felt after months of promises, that the bureaucratic roadblocks that seemed to impede each option on securing the funds was finally overcome, as the Premier himself had given his approval and commitment.
VICTORY
As a result after 13 months of campaigning, we attended a public media conference at the Waste Collection Fleet Depot in Lismore at 1pm on Wednesday the 4th of June, the Minister finally made the public announcement regarding the funding commitment.
To say that our affected Waste Collection members were both relieved and elated is an understatement.
In my 40 years in Local Government and as a member, delegate and an official of the Union I have rarely seen such an emotional outpouring of gratitude and relief.
All of those involved should be proud of this great success.
We have fought and campaigned tirelessly to have the efforts of our members who provide these front-line crucial services recognised, especially when many of them lost homes and their possessions in the record floods but who still showed up to work, in looking after their communities.
This is a constant example that most of the public unfortunately don’t recognise until the services they come to expect aren’t provided.
Council workers consistently are out there providing essential services through devastation of floods and fires, just as they did through the Covid lockdowns, regardless of what they themselves are dealing with.
SUPPORT FROM THE COMMUNITY
Great work
