Noosa Council chief executive officer Larry Sengstock has asked the community to be patient as ongoing protected industrial action impacts the delivery of some council services.
The protected action is being taken by members of The Services Union (TSU) working at council after negotiations stalled on a new Certified Agreement for all staff.
Union representative told Noosa Today six months after wage negotiations began in October without resolution, members stepped up their action in pursuit of a fair Enterprise Bargaining Agreement with marches staged in Tewantin and down Hastings Street, and work bans placing restrictions on emails, phone calls and meetings.
TSU spokesman Tom Rivers said council workers were dealing with Noosa’s high costs of housing and rentals that had forced many to move outside the area in addition to increasing costs of living expenses and were asking for pay increases that not only kept up with the cost of living but also aligned with what other councils were offering.
Mr Rivers said TSU was asking for increases of 9.5 per cent from February 2025, 4.5 per cent or CPI (which ever is greater) from February 2026 and 4.5 per cent or CPI (which ever was greater) from February 2027.
Council’s current Certified Agreement package comprises a 13.5 per cent pay increase over three years, five days wellbeing leave, doubling the family, and domestic violence leave and increasing the funeral leave for staff plus much more.
Mr Sengstock apologised for disruptions and inconvenience in council services.
“The non-union staff in Council are working diligently to respond as quickly as they can and I hope the community can understand the current situation,” he said.
Council’s Customer Service and all community facilities continue to operate as normal, including the Leisure Centre, Libraries, Noosa Seniors, the J, Noosa Regional Gallery, and Peregian Digital Hub.
Planning and regulatory services such as development assessment, environmental health and event permits remain unaffected.
The most impacted areas include parks, roads, plumbing and local laws.
The rolling, unpredictable nature of the protected industrial action by union members is likely to result in more impacts in coming weeks.
“The community may get little or no notice of what and how services will be affected,” Mr Sengstock said.
“We simply ask for patience and understanding“.
Mr Sengstock said conciliatory meetings before the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission have commenced. Further talks are scheduled for 7 May.
“We are willing to negotiate in good faith and are mindful of the importance of striking a balance between maintaining services, being financially responsible to our ratepayers and rewarding our employees,” he said.
