The United Services Union (USU) stormed Kiama Council Chambers on the morning of Tuesday, 20 August, calling for resolution to their wage concerns. 

Last week, the waste department called a stop work meeting due to ongoing “unresolved matters” relating to workers allowances and a formal rostering approach.

On Tuesday, a group of USU members protested down Manning Street, stopping out the front of the Council Chambers chanting, “where’s our cash? Wage theft.”

The protest is reported to be a result of “over two years of frustration building up,” Aarron Vann, Southern Organiser for the USU, said to The Bugle.

Representatives from the USU met with Kiama Council CEO Jane Stroud to discuss outstanding issues of their members not being fairly paid for days worked outside of their local government state award rates. The members follow a rotating roster in which they are allocated a set number of days off, which were not provided.

“Constructive dispute resolution is always more advantageous and we would’ve preferred that the industrial action hadn’t been taken, however our workers and USU officials have every right to do this, and I’m pleased we could conduct a fruitful discussion with some immediately positive outcomes,” said Jane Stroud, CEO of Kiama Council.

A timeline has been provided to the USU following their discussion today that all back-payments will be issued by the end of this week, Friday, 23 August.

“This was a good outcome for Council and for the USU and I hope we can continue to work together to discuss and resolve issues as they arise”, Stroud continued.

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