A major council has been accused of ‘bribery’ after offering a one-off $500 payment to staff who sign a pay agreement that mentions banning the phrase Australia Day.
The City of Greater Bendigo in regional Victoria is currently negotiating an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.
A copy of the agreement, seen by the Herald Sun, proposed any mention of Australia Day should in future be changed to ‘January 26 Public Holiday’.
The council also plans to bring in ‘Sorry Business Leave’ which would give Indigenous staff three extra days off every year for a period of mourning or bereavement.
A proposed 3.5 per cent wage increase from October 2024-25, another 3 per cent increase the following year and a 2.5 per cent hike the next year.
But this has been slammed by Zoe Edwards of the Australian Services Union (ASU), which recommended that workers vote against the deal.
Union members and non-members alike took the ASU’s advice, with 60 per cent of them voting against the proposal because the 3.5 per cent wage boost wasn’t enough.
Ms Edwards said council staff were not impressed by the $500 ‘signing on’ offer.
A major council has been accused of ‘bribery’ over a pay offer that would see mentions of Australia Day being banned. Australia Day revellers are pictured
Victorian Nationals MP Melina Bath said it was ‘plain wrong’ that the council would try to remove references to Australia Day. A Welcome to Country ceremony is pictured
‘I think workers are often very cynical of what they perceive as a bribe and I think in this case, you’ve seen workers reject that,’ she said.
But a council spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that ‘many State and Local Government bodies include a sign on payment, and this is not unusual practice’.
Ms Edwards, though, said the overall pay offer did not ‘keep pace with cost of living and was below comparable wage offers at similar councils.’
ASU members are set to meet on January 17 to consider striking if they don’t receive a better offer from the council in the meantime.
Though staff mostly supported providing Sorry Business Leave to Indigenous workers, their main concern was on getting a better pay offer, Ms Edwards said.
Last January, the City of Greater Bendigo moved its citizenship ceremonies away from the traditional Australia Day event.
The council spokesperson said ‘the Australian Government gave the option to hold citizenship ceremonies between January 23-29, so the City (of Greater Bendigo) has elected to hold its January citizenship ceremonies within that date range going forward but not on January 26’.
Victorian Nationals MP Melina Bath said it was ‘plain wrong’ that the council would try to remove references to Australia Day.
‘It is not the role of local councils to decide if Australia Day should be referred to,’ she said.
‘To stop referring to Australia Day and renaming it the “January 26 Public Holiday” is misguided and plain wrong.
‘Staff should not be pressured into thinking they can’t recognise or celebrate our national day.’
