PSA MEDIA RELEASE
October 14, 2009

Parliamentary staff holding rally in front of Parliament
 
Parliamentary staff are holding a lunchtime rally in front of Parliament at midday today to protest their employer freezing their pay and trying to cut redundancy payments.

The rally is being held from midday to 1pm today Wednesday October 14.

The rally involves security officers, library staff, reception workers, building maintenance staff, messengers and other administrative staff at Parliament.

They belong to the Public Service Association and began negotiations for a new collective employment agreement seven months ago in February.    

 “These workers are frustrated that despite being vital to the daily operation of Parliament they’ve had their pay frozen and are being denied the right to collectively negotiate their pay,” says PSA assistant national secretary Jeff Osborne.

“Their employer, Parliamentary Service, is also trying to cut the level of redundancy protection and redundancy payments.”

“This is why they took industrial action last week and why they are holding a rally in front of Parliament,” says Jeff Osborne.

Parliamentary staff involved in the dispute walked off the job and attended an hour long stopwork last week - on Monday October 5.

Their industrial action began on Thursday October 1 when security officers working the night shift walked off the job at 11pm to attend a one-hour stopwork. The security officers at Parliament provide an around-the-clock service every day of the year. 

“These workers are determined to get a fair settlement,” says Jeff Osborne.

“They’ve voted to escalate their industrial action if their employer continues to freeze their pay, deny them the right to collectively negotiate a fair pay increase and reduce their redundancy protection and the level of redundancy payments,” says Jeff Osborne.

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