By CASEY NEILL
GRAVES at Springvale Botanical Cemetery and Bunurong Memorial Park are being left uncovered during current strike action, according to cemetery management.
But the Australian Workers Union (AWU) says workers have scaled back rolling stoppages following “insulting” and “unjustified” claims their action would disrupt funerals.
The rolling stoppages started at the Springvale and Bangholme cemeteries last Friday, 16 August, over a wages and conditions dispute with Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (SMCT).
AWU Victorian secretary Ben Davis said suggestions they would delay burials could not be justified.
“The industrial action was taken to send a message to management, not to disrupt grieving families,” he said.
“Any suggestion to the contrary is an insult.
“If the matter is not resolved, periodic stop work bans will continue but will not cause funerals to be delayed.”
Mr Davis said the grave diggers, funeral supervisors and cremator operators involved had “no desire to increase the grief they witness among members of the public on a daily basis”.
He said the deal on the table would see them lose public holiday allowances and 13 of their 26 rostered days off in exchange for a four per cent per year pay rise.
The union was to meet with SMCT management yesterday (Wednesday).
SMCT CEO Jonathan Tribe said the AWU had notified the trust of an indefinite ban on backfilling graves and collecting rubbish.
“This disruption to our services may cause distress to grieving family members at a time of great difficulty for them,” he said.
The trust is applying to have the union’s protected action terminated on the grounds it’s endangering community health and welfare, and informing workers who refuse to fulfil their normal duties that they won’t be paid.
“We will do everything we can to minimise any disruption to our community,” Mr Tribe said.
“They are and will always be our primary concern.”
He said SMCT was determined to re-shape the organisation to be more responsive to the community’s needs.
“We have been negotiating with our workers and the union for the past 15 months,” he said.
“During this time we have submitted five offers and they have all been rejected, without any alternatives being proposed.”
Mr Tribe said almost two thirds of SMCT’s employees had been there longer than five years, and 40 per cent had been on board for more than 10 years.
“We are working to preserve these jobs and the people in them,” he said.
Visit dandenong.starcommunity.com.au for updates.
