City of Albany staff reject 6 per cent pay rise offer as union pushes increase to match rising cost of living

City of Albany staff have voted to reject a 6 per cent pay rise over the next year, with the Australian Services Union WA claiming the wage increase would not cover the rising cost of living. ASU WA representatives and the City of Albany have been negotiating a new enterprise agreement since June 2, setting out employment conditions for the next two years. The City has offered staff a 6 per cent pay rise in the first year and 2.5 per cent in the second year. On June 28 and 29, 337 City of Albany employees voted on the offer, with 63.2 per cent of them rejecting it. ASU WA assistant branch secretary Jill Hugo said the City’s offer required the removal of wording from the pay increase clause which ensured the wage increase matched the consumer price index at a minimum. She said a 6 per cent increase did not match the rising cost of living facing City workers. “For workers, a minimum CPI pay increase merely keeps their budgets being able to continue to afford their mortgage, rent, bills, fuel and groceries,” she said. “It is not a pay increase.” Ms Hugo said the City’s union members supported a two-year agreement, with a 7.6 per cent pay rise in the first year — matching Perth’s March 2022 CPI inflation — and 2.5 per cent in the second year. She said the ASU was also pushing to roll over staff’s current enterprise agreement conditions and retain the “safety net wording” that states pay increases must at least match CPI. The negotiations come after City staff agreed to reduce their hours by 20 per cent for six months and freeze their pay in 2020 to save costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a CPI increase of 2.1 per cent. City chief executive Andrew Sharpe said the City remained committed to negotiating a “fair and affordable enterprise agreement”. “But with current high inflation and economic uncertainty the City was seeking to remove the CPI risk from its new agreement to give council and the community certainty by ensuring pay rises for staff remained affordable and sustainable over the next two years,” he said. Mr Sharpe said the City wanted to give staff a pay rise that was fair to them and the community. “Everyone in the community is experiencing the rising cost of living,” he said. “This current pay rise offer is the highest single wage increase the City has ever offered. “A wage increase higher than this would mean an unfair increase in rates for the community. “We believe the City’s offer that was recently rejected by the majority of staff is fair. “We also understand it is much higher than current offers to State Government employees and other local government staff.”