ABOUT 60,000 public servants will have to wait a bit longer for a pay rise after the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission ruled it did not have the power to grant an interim wage hike of 2.35 per cent.
Public service union Together Queensland had applied for the stop gap increase from January 31, while their pay dispute with the State Government was tackled in arbitration.
But barrister Chris Murdoch for the Public Sector Commission argued the QIRC did not have the jurisdiction to make the orders sought even though the industrial tribunal had previously done so for other unions.
"While interim wage increases have been awarded by the Commission in the past by reference to s.149(2)(b) of
the Act, it does not appear that there was any challenge to jurisdiction in any of those matters,'' said the PSC submission.
Together Queensland submitted that the QIRC did have jurisdiction, but Vice President Dianne Linnane, Deputy President Adrian Bloomfield and Commissioner John Thompson agreed with the government's interpretation of the Act.
They found previous orders granting interim wage rises differed to the Together Queensland case, and in the circumstances the QIRC did not have the power to award public servants any extra until the matter was finalised in arbitration.
The union has rejected previous government offers of a 2.35 per cent pay rise, and changes to working conditions which it says will disadvantage public servants.
Frustrated government workers staged the biggest protest rally in years last September after the Newman administration delivered its first budget.
An estimated 10,000 people marched on State Parliament to protest 14,000 job cuts and the loss of job security.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét