AWU holds the line at Parks Victoria as CPSU walks away

The Australian Workers’ Union Victorian Branch has vowed to continue its protected industrial action at Parks Victoria over the King’s Birthday long weekend, despite the CPSU winding back its own action and the employer claiming there will be minimal disruption.

Parks Victoria has put out a statement claiming all parks and campgrounds will stay open as usual and that it remains committed to bargaining in good faith. The employer wants the public to believe there is nothing to see here.

There is plenty to see here. AWU members at Parks Victoria are holding the line for fair pay and conditions, and they will not back down. The union is fighting for the rangers and workers who maintain Victoria’s parks, manage public land, and provide critical firefighting and emergency response. They are being denied the same fair treatment afforded to the rest of the public sector.

“The AWU does not back down and we do not walk away,” AWU Victorian Branch State Secretary Ronnie Hayden said. “Our members maintain this state’s parks and stand on the fire line. They deserve a fair deal, and we will hold the line until they get the agreement they have earned.”

The only reason the employer can claim minimal disruption is that the CPSU walked away from its protected action and left other workers to carry the fight alone.

“For 140 years the union movement has stood shoulder to shoulder,” Mr Hayden said. “Breaking rank in the middle of a fight is not solidarity. The CPSU has left other workers in the trenches, and their own members deserve an explanation.”

Some will ask: if CPSU members are still running operations in the parks, why is the AWU pressing ahead, and what difference does it make? The answer is straightforward. AWU members do the work, so AWU members have the leverage, and that leverage does not disappear because another union steps up to help the bosses.

“Our members do the work, so our members have the leverage,” Mr Hayden said. “One union walking away is a reason to stand firmer, not to give up. The employer is betting that division will break us. It will not.”

If CPSU members are directed to carry out work ordinarily done by AWU members, that does not weaken the union’s case. It exposes the employer trying to break protected action through the back door.

The AWU has called on every CPSU member to demand answers from their leadership, to stand with their AWU workmates rather than against them, and not to carry out work ordinarily done by AWU members so that the impact of the protected action is not undermined.

“Parks Victoria wants the public to believe there is nothing to see here,” Mr Hayden said. “You do not put out reassurances about minimal disruption unless disruption worries you. Their own statement gives the game away. The AWU is a fighting union, and we will hold the line for as long as it takes.”