NT police reject EBA
Union members have overwhelmingly rejected the NT Police’s EBA offer.
The rejection is being read as a message to police management to support frontline officers.
More than 84 per cent of the 1003 police union members voted against the offer of a 2.5 per cent pay rise over four years.
The NT Police Association only wants the deal to last for three years.
Police Association president Paul McCue says; “A four-year agreement would mean the next pay negotiations would be done in the first year of a new political cycle”.
“Put simply, the offer provided for our members to vote on was not good enough,” Mr McCue said.
“The current agreement expired on June 30, 2017, so our police — the very people who run into chaos and crime as the rest of us run away — have not received a pay rise this year.
“If we're locked into a four-year deal, that's a long time to wait to be able to sit down and re-negotiate,” he said.
Officers apparently feel they are not being listened to.
“[NT Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw] hasn’t supported the troops in the ongoing wage negotiations,” an officer allegedly told News Corp reporters on condition of anonymity.
“[He] seems more focused on his own contract and ensuring he doesn’t lose any credit on that with government.
“The Commissioner needs to show he supports his troops. There is a growing level of resentment among the troops including upper levels of management that he isn’t focused enough on the real policing issues facing his troops,” he said.
“He shows very little public support for the ongoing assaults of his own members for which he makes little to no comments on record about.”
The police want more permanent beat locations, and are angry at the creation of new management positions.
NT Police set up the new Deputy Commissioner and Commander positions in the 2016-17 financial year.
Mr McCue is seeking an urgent meeting with Mr Kershaw and Chief Minister Michael Gunner following the rejection of the EBA.
Police have flagged potential industrial action, including a refusal to issue traffic infringement notices.