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"Absolute joke": Hefty pay rise for traffic controllers met with outrage

<p>A new union pay agreement that would see junior labourers and traffic controllers working 36-hour weeks earn $120,000 a year has received mixed reviews. </p> <p>According to reports by the <em>Herald Sun</em>, the Construction, Forestry, Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) was close to cementing a new pay agreement with the Victorian state government that will see its workers given “at least” a 5 per cent pay rise.</p> <p>The three-year agreement would guarantee that basic labourers and traffic controllers would earn more than $2000 per week plus another $260 a week in travel allowance, equating to 23 per cent more than the average full-time weekly income of $1838.</p> <p>Those working overtime or more than five days per week would earn much more than the $120,000 a year figure, which is for a basic 36-hour week.</p> <p>CFMEU boss John Setka told the publication that the rise was to help workers combat the rising cost of living. </p> <p>“It could be more than 5 per cent,” he said.</p> <p>“Everyone is allowed to increase the cost of everything but we are not allowed to increase wages — fair dinkum? We want a pay rise to keep up with the cost of living and we are not allowed? We are not going to be the sacrificial lambs.”</p> <p>The proposal was met with mixed reactions online, with some people on social media wondering how the labourers were able to make higher wages than those with valuable degrees. </p> <p>“Let me see. Get a tertiary education and become a teacher or a paramedic. Or hold up a pole all day and get paid 50 per cent more. Only in Victoria,” one person wrote.</p> <p>“Visit any of the train crossing removal sites around town and you’ll see dozens of people doing nothing but standing around and looking at their phones, and just a handful doing anything that could be described as work. It’s an absolute joke,” another said.</p> <p>A third added, “Who other than the union thinks it’s realistic for a labourer to earn $120,000 in the same state where a trained doctor earns $83,000 first year post grad and doesn’t get to $120,000 until five years post grad.”</p> <p>Despite the outrage, many came to the defence of workers, saying the pay rise is well overdue. </p> <p>“It’s called traffic control and it is dangerous, hard work,” one X user wrote.</p> <p>“We respect trades in this country do not try to be America about this. Also a field that’s becoming more and more female dominated I’m sure that plays no part in the righteous indignation of men who earn $200,000 a year to say things on radio.”</p> <p>Another said, “I dare anyone talking s**t about this job to do it for a single summer day.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

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"Dark day": Karl condemns tradies as Melbourne braces for third day of protests

<div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> <p><em>Today</em> host Karl Stefanovic has weighed in on the violent construction worker protests in Melbourne yesterday where three police officers were hospitalised, calling them “heartbreaking and terribly sad.”</p> <p>"It was a dark day. On the streets of a major city - violence, fury, anarchy," Stefanovic added.</p> <p>"Police (were) forced to deploy smoke bombs, pepper spray and plastic bullets,” he said.</p> <p>Three police officers were hospitalised with minor injuries after a group of tradies protesting in Melbourne against mandatory vaccinations in the construction sector turned violent.</p> <p>Police have announced their tactics today "will be different".</p> <p><em>Today</em> reporter Christine Ahern was caught up in the chaos and said earlier on the show the crew and herself was "physically threatened on numerous occasions".</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">2000 protesters charged through Melbourne yesterday, taking over the city for eight hours. Organisers say they won't stop protesting until their demands are met.<br /><br />MORE: <a href="https://t.co/kRDsizvVgX">https://t.co/kRDsizvVgX</a><a href="https://twitter.com/ChristineAhern?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ChristineAhern</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/9News?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#9News</a> <a href="https://t.co/Mq5Q8Zha0n">pic.twitter.com/Mq5Q8Zha0n</a></p> — 9News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) <a href="https://twitter.com/9NewsMelb/status/1440403029082054662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2021</a></blockquote> <p>Thousands of tradies filled the streets of Melbourne in mass protests after the $22 billion construction industry was shut down for two weeks.</p> <p>Anger has been brewing over vaccine mandates, designated break spaces on construction sites being shut down, and the sector’s operation under a 25 per cent worker capacity to meet social distancing requirements.</p> <p>Last week, tradies walked off the job in sporadic strikes, setting up tables and chairs in the middle of streets to take coffee breaks. But the ensuing protests have seen ugly brawls break out with police officers and journalists injured and a dog allegedly kicked.</p> <p>When talking to Waleed Aly on <em>The Project</em>, secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, said the issue could have been handled better by both the Victorian Government and industry bosses, given there was a lack of communication with workers before restrictions came in to place on their work sites.</p> <p>“Culturally for the construction industry, they had to fight for ages to get lunch rooms and then all of a sudden you turn up one day and you can’t use your lunch room. They are already at 25 per cent, already have the social distancing, et cetera, et cetera,” she said.</p> <p>The union’s Victorian state secretary John Setka said there had been little consultation with the government over Covid measures affecting the industry.</p> <p>“I have never spoken to Daniel Andrews to be honest,” Setka told the <em>Today</em> program on Tuesday. “I have never met him and never spoken to him. I’ve had no discussions with Daniel Andrews ever.”</p> <p><strong>Tradies unlikely alone in views</strong></p> <p>Those watching the chaos outside the CFMEU office were horrified, but experts say the angry boilover is unsurprising.</p> <p>University of Melbourne law professor Joo-Cheong Tham said the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) fundamentally opposes vaccine mandates.</p> <p>Some individual unions are in favour of requiring jabs among their workforces – teachers for example – but Prof Tham said the broader union movement has been “remarkably cohesive in opposing employer mandates”.</p> <p>“Four interlocking principles underpin this position,” he wrote in an article for <em><a rel="noopener" href="http://www.theconversation.com/" target="_blank">The Conversation</a></em>.</p> <p>“They are (that) high vaccination rates should be attained through encouragement and facilitation, not employer mandates; that where strictly necessary, mandates should be implemented through public health orders; that effective access to vaccines should be secured; and that the voices of workers should be respected.”</p> <p><em>Image: Today and Twitter</em></p> </div>

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