It's time for - The Police Association Victoria

SECRETARY’S MESSAGE
At the General Meeting on 2 may
2011 there were 2,500 police
members in attendance at
the Dallas Brooks Centre in
East melbourne.
Never, in my 34 years in the job, have I
attended a meeting that was so united,
supportive and showed such resolve as
this one. As a part of your Association,
I was humbled but, in considering the
response afterwards, not surprised at the
spontaneous applause of the meeting over
the proposals to implement the outlined
Protected Industrial Action.
If the Government now truly believes that
they can outlast the membership of The
Police Association on this issue then they
are as blind to the facts as they are to
your welfare.
Our claim is fair − it is reasonable − it is
affordable for Government.
If the Government is frightened of dealing
with other unions later this year and next
year then that is not your problem. Their
problem is that they are frightened, right
now, of dealing with you.
Our issue is with the way in which they
have dealt with the police officers of this
state, who will be expected to successfully
implement all of the untried, untested and
unproven Government Law & Order Policies
in return for your realistic wage reduction.
Our stance is that you, the police officers
of this state, have been propping up
community safety in a police force
that has been, for each of the last seven
years, the worst resourced and financed
in this country. In that time, despite
Government neglect, you have delivered
record low road tolls, lower crime rates
and the highest level of "customer
satisfaction" of any police force in Australia
(and that’s not our claim, they are the facts,
published by the Federal Government’s
‘Productivity Commission’).
So how does a grateful government, who
promised to take care of inflation and then
add additional pay for productivity gains,
now treat you − the long suffering servants
of the community?
It tells you that you can have a
2.5 per cent pay rise, each year for four
years (to conveniently push the next
Our claim is fair
- it is reasonable -
it is affordable for
Government.
EB negotiations beyond the 2014 State
Election) and no rise at all to non-salary
related expenses. It tells you that you are
not worth the inflation rate to them.
In a remarkable ‘goalpost-changing’ move,
it then tells you that "productivity" now
means giving government cash back from
the police budget. Isn’t that a ripper?
The government want you (who do not
control the police budget) or the Association
(who − take a wild guess − doesn’t control
the police budget either) to hand them
money back from the police budget in order
to get a pay-rise.
That is an outrageous demand because
it simply means that you cannot have
any pay-rise above 2.5 per cent because
GREG DAVIES > SECRETARY
they’ve demanded something you cannot
deliver in return.
We didn’t want a fight over this matter
− we went to Government with a fair,
reasonable and affordable pay claim, and
one which contained no monetary ambit.
We wanted to transition from the current
Agreement into a new Agreement in a
seamless process.
Well, Government have not moved from
their 2.5 per cent nonsense since they
first proposed it several months ago.
You might also want to ask how they
came up with the imaginary figure of
2.5 per cent as their version of the inflation
rate. The answer seems to be "it was
convenient for them," because it bears
no resemblance to the real situation.
We didn’t ask for this fight and we didn’t
want it − but now that the Government
has demanded it we have no choice but
to oblige them.
It is imperative that you fill out the secret
ballot form that you will receive from
the Australian Electoral Commission
and post it back immediately. This is
the next step to the commencement
of Protected Industrial Action on 6 June
2011 − coincidentally, and ominously for
government, the anniversary of "D-Day."
One thing we can guarantee − we didn’t
start this fight but we will end it. And we
will end it by getting what we reasonably
asked for in October 2010.
The Police Association Victoria Journal May 2011
05