By Aaron Cordy
THEY are the people you don’t want to see when you are doing the wrong thing, but for most of the community, it’s the police we turn to in our worst moments and in times of great need. But who looks out for the men and women serving on the front line? Who looks out for their families when they are struggling to hold it together in a job that has stress built into its description?
Talks with the State government over fair pay ceased after the bargaining agreement broke down on Thursday, November 30, without a fair replacement.
“Our members are overworked, undervalued and always there for the community. The government has shown our members incredible disrespect during these negotiations by leaving them hanging after they’ve endured the toughest four years in the history of policing in Victoria,” said The Police Association Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt.
“They deserve to be paid for the work they do and not be expected to work unpaid overtime every shift. They deserve the right to see their families more and to have enough money in their pockets to actually take care of them.”
While walking off the job is not an option one of the obvious actions taken by the Vic Police is the slogans painted across patrol cars. There are also more subtle actions taking place in a bid to get the Labor Government back to the table with an open mind, which followed over 50 meetings and more than six months of negotiation with Victoria Police. Parking Patrol cars in front of speed cameras is another of the 19 actions taken to get the message across.
“If the government wants to attack the bottom lines of my members’ household, we’ll attack theirs, by placing police cars beside the highest yielding speed cameras in the state, to warn motorists to slow down before they are forced to contribute to the state’s revenue,” said Mr Gatt.
With no sign of the dispute being resolved soon, because of the trickle-down nature of their claim. When the Labor Government finishes with the Police negotiations, they have the Ambulance and Teachers unions to contend with, and they don’t want to reward the people who were on the front lines throughout COVID.
While the support is high in the broader community, it will make an interesting time on our roads this Christmas.
