Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 12 July 2012, Deputy President Smith of Fair Work Australia made an order to terminate ALL industrial action in Parks Victoria, under section 424 of the Fair Work Act.

This means that effective from 5pm yesterday, ALL bans from all three ballots must cease. This applies to all three unions in Parks Victoria.

The Unions gave an undertaking to comply with this order, and that we would make all reasonable attempts to contact members to advise them to lift the bans. This applies to everything – park closures, email signatures, answering phones, and all other work bans are no longer protected.

Please make every attempt to lift them as soon as possible, and contact all colleagues across all three unions to do likewise.

This termination has triggered a 21 day timeframe in which the parties will try to reach agreement. Should the parties not be able to reach agreement, Fair Work Australia will commence arbitration.

This is a significant win for Union members across PV. The Government had hoped that you would capitulate to their unreasonable and unfair demands for the new agreement.
Instead of backing down, you have become more and more resilient, and have refused to be pushed around by a Government that refuses to acknowledge or reward the value of the great work you do.

So now the Government have lost control of the process. The independent umpire has stepped in, and will make a determination on the basis of evidence submitted by the parties. There is a way to go yet, and there is much work to do in preparation for the arbitration.

There are no guarantees in the arbitration process but the important thing is that it will give us a real chance to argue the value of your work before an independent third party. Union members have made huge sacrifices to get us to this point, and ought to be proud of their determination and resilience in the face of a very hostile Government.

Well done to all.

Members will be updated of progress as soon as possible and will endeavor to hold members’ meetings across the state to explain the process and what it means for you.


JIM WALTON

Victorian Assistant Branch Secretary