Multi-Employer Bargaining in your Industry

30 June 2025

The ASU’s campaign to implement multi-employer bargaining across local government continues and we have secured significant wins in the last month.

Regional MEB Agreement update
The first local government Authorisation for a multi-employer agreement at Ararat and Central Goldfields continues. Following our big legal win against Central Goldfields in the Federal Court earlier this year, we have been back at the bargaining table over the last couple of months. We have secured an opening management wage offer of 3% per year, agreement on a strong dispute resolution clause, parental leave, redundancy entitlements, transfer of business and lots more. The ASU has sought the assistance of the Fair Work Commission to resolve the remaining issues in dispute which include wages, penalty rates on weekends, 9-day fortnight for indoor and outdoor workers and end of band payments.

The majority of workers at Golden Plains have now voted to participate in multi-employer bargaining. Workers at Horsham, Southern Grampians and Colac Otway are continue to collect petitions to demonstrate majority support.

Unfortunately, Warrnambool City Council were able to get their single employer agreement negotiated without the Union voted up. This is a 2-year agreement with a 3.5% increase. Our efforts to pursue multi-employer agreement are not lost – through the bargaining power generated from the threat of the MEB we secured an improved wage offer. Warrnambool will have the opportunity to rope in to the regional agreement when their EA expires. Congratulations to Warrnambool delegates for a brilliant campaign!

Contractor MEB update
The Fair Work Commission has held a hearing for a multi-employer agreement to cover GLG and Citywide who provide parks and gardens contract services for local government. The hearing went well and we are hopeful that we will secure an Authorisation to bargain for an agreement for these workers – improving their wages and conditions and protecting in-house jobs by reducing the incentive for Councils to contract out jobs to access lower wages.

Metro MEB update and Libraries update
Our Fair Work application for a Libraries and Metro MEB are waiting for the Fair Work Commission. We are optimistic the petition validation process will be able to commence very soon. In positive news, we expect that 3 Councils will now consent to the application for a metropolitan agreement. This follows an employer-initiated vote at Melbourne and Maribyrnong where workers overwhelmingly voted for an multi-employer agreement. Congratulations to the delegates at Melbourne and Maribyrnong! They join City of Greater Dandenong who has not only consented but also committed to provide workers with an interim pay rise, outside of the EA this year to address cost of living issues.

Stay tuned for more updates over the coming weeks!