GREENS SUPPORT COUNCIL WORKER STRIKES AND DEMAND LABOR PROPERLY FUND LOCAL COUNCILS
2026-05-01
greens.org.au
The Victorian Greens have put their support behind council workers and called out decades of cost-shifting and insufficient funding from Victorian Labor as a major issue affecting local councils across Victoria, which are struggling to keep staff and services running.

50% of council workers recently surveyed by the Australian Services Union (ASU) said a lack of government funding is the reason for jobs or services cuts at councils.

Essential services for communities and the workers ensuring Victorians are provided with those services are undervalued and underpaid, as wages fail to keep up with inflation.

At a time when Victorians are experiencing significant cost of living and housing pressures, the need for accessible community services and infrastructure provided by local government is even more critical.

The Greens have urged Premier Allan to increase funding to Victorian councils immediately, to support vital public services and pay workers fairly.

Quotes attributed to Dr Sarah Mansfield, Deputy Leader of the Victorian Greens and spokesperson for Local Government:

“Keeping community services like our libraries running, our streets clean, our bins emptied, and our public spaces maintained is essential work. Yet, despite it being made clear to Victorian Labor repeatedly over many years, councils are struggling, with many jobs and services being guillotined.

“The Government has failed to address critical funding issues, and workers and communities are paying the price.

- ENDS -

Melbourne council workers and Victorian teachers to strike during budget week 


ABC News.
Monday 20 April

Councils say they have not been informed by the Australian Services Union of workers' intention to strike on May 5. (ABC News: Andi Yu)

In short:
Workers across eight local councils in Melbourne will walk off the job next month, with bins to again go uncollected over demands for better pay and conditions.

In some parts of Melbourne, bins have remained uncollected since council workers took strike action earlier this month.

Victorian teachers have announced they will stop work for half a day next month and will stop adding written comments in report cards.

Local council workers in Melbourne and Victorian teachers have said they will walk off the job during budget week to demand increased wages.

The planned industrial action for workers comes after council staff in three northern Melbourne local government areas stopped collecting rubbish earlier this month to demand better pay and conditions.

The Australian Services Union (ASU) has announced more than 1,000 council workers will walk off the job on May 5 — the day the Victorian government hands down its budget.

The ASU said the strike would cause significant disruption to rubbish collection, mowing, library services and aged-care services.

A sign on a fence saying council workers deserve fair pay.
The union representing council workers is calling for an initial pay rise of 10 per cent. (ABC News: Andi Yu)

ASU Victoria and Tasmania secretary Tash Wark said said that understanding a city-wide strike was "a last resort".

"Our members take immense pride in serving their communities, but after 18 months of being ignored, they have been left with no other choice," she said.

"The simple reality is that the average council worker earns around $70,000 a year.

"Since 2021, they have watched their pay go backwards by as much as 12 per cent in real terms."

A joint statement from the Melbourne, Greater Dandenong, Darebin, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Maribyrnong, Merri-bek and Yarra councils said "none of the eight councils have been notified of any ASU strike action on 5 May".

"Councils are participating in the fourth core bargaining meeting on Tuesday this week as part of the multi-employer bargaining process and are continuing to negotiate in good faith," they said.

"The Australian Services Union's industrial action is being undertaken very early in the bargaining process."

The union is asking for an initial 10 per cent pay rise for workers in the first year, followed by 4 per cent a year rises.

Disruption to bin collection affecting communities
The ASU has said the move to a full-scale strike action has followed "punitive and mean-spirited tactics by council management", including workers being threatened with 15 per cent pay docking for engaging in partial work bans and delays to interim pay rises.

The statement from the councils said they respected the ASU's right to take protected action and were working to minimise disruption to the community.

"We will continue to bargain in good faith and keep the community informed — and we thank people for their patience,"  they said.
More than 20,000 bins across Hume, Darebin and Merri-bek were left unemptied due to strike action earlier this month.

Pascoe Vale MP Anthony Cianflone on Friday said kerbside bin collections had been indefinitely halted in some suburbs north of Bell Street in Melbourne's north.

A group of people in high vis with union flags.
Council workers protested outside the Hume Council operations centre on April 7. (ABC News: Andi Yu)

Mr Cianflone said while he respected the right of the ASU to take protected action and calls for better pay and conditions for workers, he expressed concern about the impact the pay dispute was having on local communities.

"It's regrettable that these actions continue to affect people across our suburbs, particularly those with young families, the most vulnerable and many other households," he said.

Frustrated residents in have flooded social media with complaints about the smell of uncollected bins.

Pascoe Vale resident Mark Ganame told the ABC red and yellow bins in the area where he lived had not been picked up for nearly a month.

"Everyone's got their bins out and they've been out for a long time," he said.

"Rubbish is overflowing out of everyone's bins. You've got magpies having a field day and I've been taking my rubbish to my cousin's house so I can have some sort of reprieve.

"You've got the flies, which is a big problem, and it's getting funky on the streets."

aquascoot wrote on May 1^st, 2026 at 6:34pm:


For starters, you'd have rubbish piled up on your verge attracting rats and other vermin.