Victoria's most crucial frontline services fighting bitter pay negotiations
As workers begin to take industrial action, economists have warned if the government caves to higher wages, the state will have to find the savings elsewhere or pile on more debt.
Transcript
00:00 Parked on the steps of power, police want politicians to hear their piece.
00:06 I reckon this is really embarrassing for the government quite frankly.
00:09 As officers action prepares to enter a third day, the union says it's ready to rack up millions of dollars in lost revenue
00:16 by warning drivers of speed cameras for as long as it takes to achieve better pay and conditions.
00:23 Industrial negotiations need to take place in good faith and that's actually absolutely what is occurring now.
00:30 The government is losing control of service delivery in Victoria.
00:33 As we head into Christmas, it's crunch time for a government fighting fires on a number of different fronts,
00:39 including disputes with police, the public service, public transport and firefighters.
00:45 But questions remain as to whether the state can actually afford to meet the demands of frontline workers.
00:51 The government can afford a higher wage outcome than its wages policy.
00:55 The risk is it does mean that wages are higher.
00:58 It does then pressure the return to operating surplus and lead to higher debt than we're otherwise forecasting.
01:04 V-line workers will walk off the job between 3 and 7am next week,
01:09 causing major delays to the regional train network at one of the busiest times of the year.
01:14 They want pay parity with metro train drivers who recently won a 17% wage rise over four years.
01:21 We've been negotiating with V-line for six months now and they have refused to address our core claims.
01:28 Our members are extremely frustrated. We haven't made this decision lightly.
01:32 What we say to the union is drop the action, don't affect the public, negotiate in good faith.
01:39 It's not the early Christmas present the government was hoping for.
01:42 for.
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