Ballarat council union members will kick off more intense industrial action as tourists flock to the city for the upcoming White Night festival.
As workers continue their fight for a better pay deal, street cleaners will walk off the job from 2pm on Saturday to 5am on Sunday.
Art gallery workers will stop work for 10 minutes each hour on Saturday, before striking for their whole shift on Sunday.
Bin collection around Ballarat will be affected this coming Monday, with waste collection drivers going on strike.
Australian Services Union branch secretary Tash Wark says council management could have used the savings on staff vacancies to increase current workers’ wages, instead of paying council debt and on other projects.
“You’ve got workers who keep the city going, looking beautiful [and] working with the communities that they love, and councillors and council officers are making the wrong call here,” she said.
Negotiations on a new enterprise agreement with the City of Ballarat are scheduled to continue next Wednesday.
In a statement, the City of Ballarat said management believes the current proposed offer balances the need for investment in infrastructure for our growing community with the calls from staff for a higher wage increase.
They say management will move forward with preparing a version of the new agreement.
