Garbage strike over

By CASEY NEILL
STRIKE action that saw Springvale’s streets fill with rubbish has come to an end.
City of Greater Dandenong Australian Service Union members on Tuesday agreed in principle to a new three-year enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
ASU assistant secretary Richard Duffy said that after a long stand-off that included work bans that left bins overflowing, management came back to the negotiating table with an offer the members considered reasonable.
“The new offer does provide significant wage increases for people on lower pay scales,” Mr Duffy said.
“ASU members now want to make sure that CEO John Bennie looks after his employees during the transition into the new office in Dandenong, but also to see how he repairs the damage to the relationship he has with his workers after this recent round of negotiations.”
Mr Duffy said some members were still not totally satisfied with the offer but had reached a stage “where they are sick and tired of butting their heads against the wall”.
“They all want to get back to work to look after the municipality,” he said.
“The work bans certainly highlighted how important council workers are as significant services were cut during negotiations.”
City of Greater Dandenong CEO John Bennie said the EBA would mean an increase to the council’s salary budget but it would have no impact on rates.
“With all industrial action now suspended we can get on with the important job of supporting our community,” he said.
Mr Bennie thanked the community for its patience.
“Council is fully committed with all our staff working together to returning this great city to one of which we are most proud,” he said.