Hundreds of public servants in the Northern Territory have walked out of their jobs over the government’s two per cent pay rise offer.
Workers in Darwin stopped work for four hours, with many attending a rally outside Parliament House to protest the inadequacy of the two per cent annual wage increase offer for public servants.
Unions NT acting president Jengis Osman said increasing workers’ wages would be an investment in the public service and the education and health sectors.
“It’s not easy to take a few hours off work and lose pay when you’re fighting for a pay increase,” he said.
“If we’re not being paid adequately and we don’t have enough staff to run those services then those services start to crumble.”
Other public sector workers such as firefighters and utility workers also took protected industrial action in Alice Springs, with corrections officers stopping work for 12 hours.
The unpopular pay offer was made in October when the state government backflipped on its 2020 four-year pay freeze wages policy.
“Overwhelming numbers of angry public sector workers sent a clear message to the government that they will continue walking off the job, will continue rallying and staying united until they are offered a real wage increase,” Unions NT Secretary Erina Early said.
She said the state government needed to listen to its firefighters, nurses, teachers, corrections officers, power and water workers.
“These workers have the collective power to change and bring a government to its knees,” she said.
“It’s time to listen before it is too late.”
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said she respected workers’ right to take protected industrial action during the negotiations. She also said that the work on enterprise bargaining agreements was underway.
“We have a new wages policy which the lump-sum payment approaches and provides a compounding pay rise for public servants,” she said in a statement.
Minister Fyles said the local government was trying to strike a balance between providing workers with fair wages growth and managing the NT’s budget, which remains deeply in the red.
“We continue to work with unions through this process, and to ensure minimal disruption to Territorians,” she said.
NT teachers, firefighters and correctional officers have taken industrial action and protested on multiple occasions over the past six months.
With AAP