SA public servants prepare for state-wide strike

Bob Briton

The long-running dispute between the South Australian Government 
and the state's 15,000 public servants is now set to escalate as 
the Public Service Association prepares for a state-wide 24-hour 
stoppage on March 26. The strike will be the first action of such 
scope in more than 20 years and comes in response to the 
government's intransigence over the provisions of a new 
Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA).

The old agreement expired in November last year but so far, of 
the issues raised by the PSA claim lodged in August, the only 
ones taken up by the government have been wages and maternity 
leave. Questions like mobility across the public sector and 
adequate staffing levels have been ignored. The PSA originally 
called for a 12 percent pay increase over the two years of the 
new agreement and for 14 weeks' paid maternity leave.

The government's first response in December was to offer three 
percent per annum to most public servants and four per cent for 
the lowest ASO1 category of workers. Six weeks paid maternity was 
suggested — which would still have been the worst such condition 
in public sector employment in Australia.

From the beginning of 2004, PSA members have been implementing a 
wide range of bans that have focussed on the government's revenue 
raising capacity. Faced with this widely supported resistance, 
the government came back with a revised offer in late January: a 
3.5 per cent a year pay increase, an extension of the 4 per cent 
rise to workers from the next two lowest classifications and 
eight weeks paid maternity leave.

The miniscule "concessions" were accompanied by the use of 
inflammatory language by Premier Mike Rann and Industrial 
Relations Minister Michael Wright about "bullying" and "bloody-
mindedness" on the part of the PSA. The PSA, however, had already 
signalled its willingness to accept any "double figure" offer. 

On February 24, a rally of public servants at Dom Polski in 
Adelaide was linked up with regional and worksite meetings. 
Members strongly rejected the government's revised offer and 
authorised their union to organise a one-day stoppage.

Since then the government and the PSA have been involved in a 
series of voluntary conferences before Deputy President Peter 
Hampton of the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC). At one of 
these meetings the PSA undertook not to escalate bans as an act 
of "good faith", even though the government has not shown itself 
to be worthy of much confidence in the course of negotiations.

The government has been trying to get the IRC to rule against the 
union's campaign of industrial action. Last week it also sought 
to have DP Hampton outlaw the March 26 stopwork. Hampton has so 
far rejected these demands and called instead for the government 
to negotiate with the PSA prior to a scheduled conference on 
March 18.

In the meantime, PSA member are continuing with their bans and 
preparing for the state-wide strike. The union has called on 
members to identify any emergency areas that will need to be 
maintained during the stoppage. Hospitals have already been 
excluded from the action.

Members are heartened by the news that Tasmania's public servants 
have won a 14.75 percent increase over the next three years — an 
outcome that very nearly matches the PSA's revised claim of 10 
per cent over two years.