The USU has been leading a strong campaign to ensure proper process and transparency at Coffs Harbour City Council (CHCC).
Recently, CHCC Councillors met and endorsed a proposal to give the Acting General Manager authority to outsource the CHCC Lifeguards service. Although the Council allege, they had not made a definite decision, Senior Council staff met with lifeguards the morning after the Council meeting and explained that they were looking to transfer staff to the Australian Lifeguard Service (ALS).
Prior to this meeting, the USU wrote to CHCC questioning whether a decision to outsource had taken place – Council denied this allegation and dismissed any suggestion a contentious matter was on their agenda.
The USU officials acted quickly by lodging a dispute with the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) regarding concerns of failing to comply with the proper processes under the Award in relation to major workplace change and the required consultation at least 28 days before a decision is made. Shortly after this dispute was lodged, lifeguard staff alerted the USU of ALS representatives working from their offices and being toured around the facility.
Council’s disregard of their employees’ wellbeing was extremely disappointing, and so with the assistance of CHCC Councillor Tony Judge, representatives from APOLA, former CHCC lifeguards and various community members, the USU launched a necessary media campaign to alert the community on how their Council was operating behind closed doors.
Councillor Judge later moved a Notice of Motion to immediately cease negotiations with ALS and keep the lifeguard service in-house. Unfortunately, regardless of community support, the Coffs Harbour City Councillors voted against the motion and endorsed a separate motion to properly consult and ensure all stakeholders have a say, including, most importantly, CHCC lifeguards and their Union representatives.
Currently, the matter is still listed in the IRC and the USU is waiting for CHCC to provide documentation on what the operational concerns are for the lifeguard service. When/ if CHCC become aware of any operational concerns, the USU will be involved in the conversations and assist in seeking proper resolution.
It is understood that the matter has been allocated to Council’s new incoming General Manager to deal with, and that the USU is hoping that a new General Manager will take a different approach.
Without the USU’s assistance, the lifeguards’ team would currently be working under the ALS service and would most certainly not be “better off overall”, as promised by CHCC staff in conjunction with ALS.
