Win @ Newcastle Council: A major win for Civic Theatre Workers!

The United Services Union, your Union, celebrates a great win for USU members at the Civic Theatre.

There are currently “hybrid” industrial arrangements in place for these City of Newcastle workers, with the majority of employment conditions (including wage increases) derived from the Entertainment and Broadcasting Industry – Live Theatre and Concert (State) Award. Currently, the USU is not a respondent to this Award therefore we have been unable to make a direct application to have Award wage increases apply.

In the past, wage increases have resulted from the annual Stage Wage Case held before the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission. Unfortunately, there was no application by the current Award parties for wage increases for many years, leaving the Civic Theatre workers without wage increases for nearly four years.

Following the outcome of the 2018 Stage Wage Case, the USU has taken on these concerns and has continued to strongly advocate for the Civic Theatre workers which included several requests for appropriate back payments to 2015. This pleasing news is a great win for Civic Theatre Workers with Council agreeing to retrospectively pay Civic Theatre Workers over 13.5% back to 2015!

The USU congratulates the City of Newcastle for its agreement with USU representations to back pay these workers and rectifying this outrageous period of no wage growth for these highly skilled casual workers.

The USU is now continuing representations to end the industrial uncertainty and future ambiguity of these industrial arrangements. The USU is pushing for a new industrial instrument, aligned to the recently resolved Enterprise Agreement which will finally resolve these matters and provide equitable arrangements for the Civic Theatre. This future resolution will also ensure no fellow USU members at the City of Newcastle will go for years without a wage increase!

This is also a reminder of how the USU represents ALL workers at the City of Newcastle, irrespective of employment status or location – Casual, permanent or part time we will continue to represent ALL workers collectively!

Being Collective Counts!
USU membership has been integral in improving conditions of employment at City of Newcastle and this major outcome continues this record. This was again achieved by the collective strength of the USU membership!

Not yet a member?
Want to be part of a united collective who continually improves wages and conditions? Please contact your local USU workplace delegate/s – Keven Burgess – 0400 391 311 or Ross Warren – (02) 4974 2307 (NCC Admin Building). Alternatively, you can also contact USU Organiser Luke Hutchinson on 0419 761 323 or lhutchinson@usu.org.au or simply turn over!