A CURRENT ‘review’ of Greater Shepparton’s parking enforcement is reportedly going to see local officers lose their jobs and a company from outside the region employed to take on the responsibility of enforcing parking laws.
In the Shepparton CBD there are approximately 1,137 metered, on-street parking bays, 457 time restricted on-street parking bays and 260 ticketed off-street parking bays with five local officers currently employed to enforce parking laws.
On a Facebook post on the ‘Shepparton Silent No More’ page, where the information on the matter was brought to public attention, Greater Shepparton City Council’s, Cr Fern Summer commented, “Locals will obviously still be employed because they’re not likely to commute from Melbourne for a job like that.
“Staff have a 14 day consultation process to negotiate their terms.
“This is an operational matter and fines will still be reduced with our electronic payment system and extra areas for free off-street parking.
“Admittedly, we should have been more on the front foot in breaking the news so it didn’t wind up on a page like this,” Cr Summer said.
When The Adviser asked Greater Shepparton City Council to comment on the matter, a council spokesperson said, “Parking enforcement within Greater Shepparton is currently being reviewed based on Best Value Principles particularly in terms of providing the best service for the community. This review has been informed via a range of community consultations that have been undertaken over recent years.
“A final review outcome will be determined as soon as possible.
“As part of the review relates to individual employment arrangements it is imperative for council to respect the confidentiality of any potentially impacted staff, so limited information can be provided regarding this matter.”
The Australian Services Union, representing workers who undertake the council’s parking function, was notified last week of council’s ‘preliminary decision’ to put the council parking function out to tender.
This advice stated that employees in the City of Greater Shepparton parking team may be impacted by the review of the service, and claimed putting the service out to public tender is the best decision for council.
Australian Services Union (ASU) executive president, Billy King said the council is denying a final decision has been made but the ASU has serious concerns that the consultation process is not genuine and this decision is a fait accompli.
“The City of Greater Shepparton is making the jobs of dedicated council employees insecure and that is bad for the whole city,” Mr King said.
“The ASU has serious concerns that the City of Greater Shepparton has not met its obligations to employees.
“Because of our serious concerns, the ASU has put this matter into formal dispute under the Best Value and Consultation clauses of the Greater Shepparton City Council Enterprise Agreement 2017,” Mr King said.
The ASU has formally requested a meeting with the City of Greater Shepparton about the proposal to tender out jobs at the city.
