No better pay offers from government as police strike

Victorian police officers will not be offered further pay deals from the government unless the industrial relations watchdog intervenes, as officers begin rolling strikes. or signup to continue reading For the first time in more than 20 years, police will walk off the job over the stalled negotiations. Officers at the police academy in Glen Waverley and Broadmeadows police station will leave their posts for 30-minute blocks on Thursday as part of a series of stop-work meetings.

Dozens more sites are expected to be added at a rate of two stations each day, as the union tries to drag the government and Victoria Police back to the bargaining table. Police want a 24 per cent pay rise over the next four years and the introduction of 8.5-hour shifts.



In May, an in-principle agreement was reached with officers for a nine-day fortnight and a 16 per cent pay rise over four years, but police union members voted against the deal. The long-running pay battle is now before the Fair Work Commission after the force asked it to intervene. Treasurer and Industrial Relations Minister Tim Pallas said the government would attempt to justify their "fair and generous" offer before the commission, which is expected to make a ruling by the end of the year.

"Our processes from here is if you reach an in-principle agreement, then the government will not be making further and better offers," Mr Pallas told reporters on Thursday. "We will then put the matter through Fair Work, through its intractable bargaining processes, in order to determine what is an appropriate outcome." Victorian Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt warned other states were attracting prospective officers with more lucrative pay and conditions.

"What will we say when people migrate north to brighter and better paid careers in NSW and Queensland?" Mr Gatt told Nine's Today Show on Thursday. NSW officers will become the best paid in the nation following a "generational" pay deal which lifts wages at least 25 per cent, while Queensland Police offers a $20,000 relocation payments for recruits. "We've got soaring crime in Victoria, a state of law and disorder, not law and order, and our members are powerless to stop it because we're losing cops," Mr Gatt said.

The union boss has denied some officers are facing an internal backlash for working voluntary duties against the boycott, saying some officers needed a pay rise so badly that they could not afford to participate in the action. Opposition Leader John Pesutto reiterated his call for Premier Jacinta Allan to intervene to broker a deal and said he trusted police not to jeopardise community safety. Police Minister Anthony Carbines backed the commission to find a resolution.

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