COUNCIL WORKERS WANT A PAY RISE ... AND CR RICHIE BATES FOR MAYOR
RICHIE Bates is not ruling out a tilt for the mayor’s job at the next election after copping an ear-splitting endorsement from Cairns Regional Council workers on strike.
About 200 staff walked off the job yesterday morning amid an ugly pay dispute with the council’s top brass.
They were loud and visible outside the Spence St council chambers, waving union flags and yelling “shame” at strikebreaking employees who snuck peeks through the windows above.
Cr Bates received an approving roar and chants of “Richie for mayor” after he spoke to the crowd.
“Councillors had their pay rises for the past four years, at least 2 per cent every year,” he said. “You people have got nothing.
“The $1500 they offered you as an incentive a couple of years ago, just before Christmas, turned into 900 bucks.
“It equates to nothing, it’s not on your hourly rate, it doesn’t go on your superannuation, and you’ve waited long enough.”
The Division 5 representative’s future has been a hot talking point among the city’s political elite in recent months.
He was a frontrunner for Labor preselection to run for Leichhardt in the next federal election but lost the race to candidate Elida Faith.
Yesterday he addressed speculation he would go headto-head with Mayor Bob Manning in 2020.
“All options will be considered,” he said. “I am supportive of the workforce and that is my priority right now.”
Staff who took industrial action were locked out from returning to work yesterday.
The Services Union state secretary Neil Henderson expected work would resume today.
“(The lockout) really is desperate, extreme, unnecessary – a lot of the workers just wanted to come to the rally, wear a badge and go back to work,” he said.
The council says it has made five separate wage offers but the unions refuse to let them be put to a vote.
Cr Manning said no decisions had been made about his political future.
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