By Mikayla van Loon, with AAP
Croydon police members and staff walked off the job as part of the intensified industrial action as the pay and fair working conditions dispute carries on.
Rostered staff and off-duty members joined the action on Tuesday 19 November calling for a fairer deal, as the State Government and Victoria Police remain idle in the pay discussions.
Croydon Police Sergeant Karen said members are at the end of their tether, currently operating at 50 per cent of normal staffing levels.
“Everyone here is standing up and we’re saying ‘we’ve had enough, we’re burnt out, we’re understaffed, we’re underpaid, and we need some more resources’,” she said.
“It’s affecting our family life. I haven’t seen my son in days [because of overnight], this is how much it’s affecting us. These guys are working overtime every shift. We don’t even open the watch house overnight because we’re running 50 per cent here at Croydon.”
Karen said despite the possibility of gaining a further six members, which may mean the watch house can reopen overnight, it wouldn’t be enough to take the pressure off existing members.
“The Chief Commissioner, the government, they need to know there’s not an endless stream of people wanting to join.
“And there isn’t a day that goes by here where I haven’t heard someone say, ‘I’ve had enough of this’. If we’re leaving and then no one joins, who’s going to respond to the community and keep everyone safe?”
Adding in the potential lack of staff because of illness, Karen said “it just throws out the whole station” and requires members to take on tasks they may not be trained to do.
“It means we have to have the sergeant or the senior sergeant working either the van or watch house just to fill those gaps, which puts pressure on the member who’s not of rank because they have to pick up all the work.
“And then, of course, the sergeant’s not doing their job either.”
With this being a common scenario, Karen said “we make it work” to ensure the community is put first but it can be to their detriment.
“We’re our own enemies. We make it work because we didn’t join to not help the community. We joined to help the community.
“So when we’re faced with a problem and we’re faced with that shortfall, we make it work and we make it happen and it’s time we get recognised for it.”
Having worked in the job for 22 years, Karen said for the government and Victoria Police to send the enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) dispute to the Fair Work Commission was “a slap in the face for us”.
“We want to be better paid. We want to be recognised for the work we do. We don’t want to do unpaid overtime. We do hours of unpaid overtime and there’s just no recognition,” the sergeant said.
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.
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 process 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 14 November after officers walked off the job at the Police Academy.
“We will then put the matter through Fair Work, through its intractable bargaining processes, in order to determine what is an appropriate outcome.”
The Police Association of Victoria (TPAV) secretary Wayne Gatt said this action would be part of a statewide rollout of 30 minute work stoppages.
“Sadly, you’ll see more police walking out of our police stations than are walking in. That’s a trend Victoria Police knows all too well recently,” he said.
The 30-minute walk outs, Karen said act as the lunch break police members don’t get but do not leave the community at risk, with a divisional van and office staff remaining on duty.
“It is for the half an hour that we don’t get. Most people get to have a lunch break. We don’t. We either don’t eat, or we’re eating on the way to jobs, or we’re eating while we’re doing our paperwork,” she said.
This is the second stage of industrial action, the first stage saw police vehicles covered in slogans, facts and statements about poor working conditions and underpayment, which was voted in by a majority of TPAV members.
“We don’t want Victoria Police to wash its hands of our members’ future, we want it to return
to the negotiating table and have some involvement in looking after its workforce,” Mr Gatt said.
“With over 1000 vacancies, 800 plus members off sick and more police leaving than entering the building that will host [Tuesday’s] walkout, Victoria Police needs to take ownership here and correct the ship that is currently sailing off course.”
