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The McGowan government will be forced to continue pay negotiations with frontline workers in the new year after WA Police officers resoundingly rejected its latest offer.
Key points:
- Officers were balloted on a pay rise they are now being given for Christmas
- Their union says the offer is bad and is warning about fresh industrial action
- The Premier insists the current offer is the most the government can give
Around two-thirds of WA Police Union members voted in the ballot, which closed yesterday, with 67 per cent voting no.
The offer included some slight movement on penalty rates and conditions but did not budge on the government's policy of a $3,000 cost of living payment, plus a pay rise for police between 3 and 5.3 per cent.
Even though the union has not agreed to it, that money will start to hit the bank accounts of officers early in the new year in what the government announced yesterday as an offer of "goodwill".
Premier Mark McGowan said the pay offer was "final" in the government's mind and that he would not budge on increasing base pay rates, but was happy to discuss other elements of pay and conditions.
Those discussions would now have to continue in the new year, with the union previously insisting on a 5 per cent pay rise and better penalty rates.
"The results clearly demonstrate that this offer is a bad offer," acting WA Police Union (WAPU) president Paul Gale said in a statement.
"Our members have had a look at it, and they've decided that they don't want it."
Fresh industrial action flagged
Mr Gale said members would now be surveyed about why they rejected the offer and in what further industrial action they were willing to take part – ranging from leaving phones at work or issuing cautions instead of fines, through to marching on Parliament House.
"In January I will provide those reasons to the Commissioner of Police and I will invite him to provide us with a third pay offer," he said.
"If we receive a third offer, we will consider it. If we don't, we will consider a new round of action based on the response that we receive from members."
Mr Gale said it would not help attrition rates within a police force that recorded 372 resignations in the first nine months of the year.
"I would not at all be surprised if we finish the year with over 500 resignations," he said.
It comes after the nurses union yesterday described payment of the raise as a "sensible step", but said it would continue pushing for a 5 per cent rise in the new year.
Mr McGowan and his government have insisted the current wages offer of at least 3 per cent – or more for lower paid workers – plus the cost of living bonus was the most the government could offer.
He said a 5 per cent increase, which if offered to police and nurses would likely have to be extended to all public sector workers, would cost the state about $2 billion extra over four years.
Police 'unappreciated' through pandemic
Speaking on ABC Radio Perth, Mr Gale said members felt unappreciated, with the offer not going far enough on both pay and conditions.
"Mr McGowan thanks us publicly for the outstanding job we do, but given the extra workload that we did, that we went above and beyond through the whole COVID-19 pandemic, they don't feel that they have been acknowledged," he said.
"One of the things that probably we need to stop is the goodwill that we give to this government.
"We go beyond to make sure that the job's done, and that's absolutely a positive for the community because our officers do that, but we're taken for granted for that."
He said a 5 per cent increase would still be below inflation, and would be a "reasonable" outcome.
Senior government minister Stephen Dawson said despite the setbacks, the government would continue negotiations and hoped to resolve them soon.
"We recognise the great work that our police do in Western Australia, and so the state government have made the decision to fast-track the payment of their pay increases to them," he said.
"The benefits are pretty substantial because we do recognise the great work that our public servants and public sector workers do and have done over the last few years."