Workers at the Mount Helen State Revenue Office were among the first public servants in Victoria to publicly call on the state government for a wage increase.
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Negotiations between the public service and state government have been ongoing since July last year, but hit a standstill when unions, including the Community and Public Sector Union, pushed for a pay increase higher than 2 per cent.
While several other conditions have been agreed to, including addressing gender pay inequality, others are still being fought.
These include mobility - that is, paying staff moving from an office in one city to another, which could affect staff at the new Ballarat GovHub; clarity over management hierarchies; recognition of upskilling and micro-qualifications; and superannuation commitments.
Insecure employment, which in the public sector often affects young women, is another aspect.
According to local delegates, there's about 250 employees at the State Revenue Office - a small slice of the 40,000 public service workers across the state.
These include Department of Human Services and Department of Justice workers, prison guards, child protection workers, court staff, non-teaching education staff, and many others.
"We need to look after ourselves, we're not being paid in a respectful way for the work we do," they said.
"This is the very first action in regional Victoria for the CPSU - we're hoping it's enough of a message to get Tim Pallas and Daniel Andrews moving, but if not, we're happy to roll it out to other places across the state."
State secretary Karen Batt addressed the Mount Helen crowd after a barbecue - she said negotiations with the state government would continue on Wednesday.
She indicated if discussions did not go well - an independent mediator has been appointed - a process to commence protected industrial action may begin.
Speaking to The Courier after the meeting, she said the government had been "stubbornly" holding onto its 2 per cent offer.
"We believe our membership should be given an increase that is greater than the cost of living, a 3 per cent increase is what's required to reach an agreement," she said. "A real wage increase, and there's a number of conditions that relate to insecure work, gender pay equality, and to making sure there's a better work-life balance available for people who work for the sector and their families, that's part of the package of things that we are trying to negotiate."
So far, an agreement on paid parental and surrogate leave had been reached, but there was still work to be done from the government's side, she added, to bring public servants in line with other government employees.
An example was transition leave for people who identify as transgender - Ms Batt said this would be an easy concession for the government to make, and would support its prior statements about "standing with and fighting beside" the LGBTI+ community.
Another is what the CPSU says is wage theft - that is, the state government has "refused ... to remove the overtime eligibility and wage cap despite this amounting to institutionalised wage theft across the Victorian Public Service", according to a CPSU handout.
A state government spokesperson responded on Wednesday morning.
"Negotiations continue in good faith between the two parties," they said in a statement.
"We don't conduct EBA negotiations through the media."
The state wages policy applies to all government employees.
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