Government-contracted mobile speed camera operators employed by Serco will strike today for 24 hours in pursuit of better pay and safer working conditions.
The Community and Public Sector Union is assisting Serco employees in their fight for an increase in their $26 per hour wage, as well as for increased safety in light of recent attacks targeting mobile speed camera vehicles.
“Over two hundred (200) camera sessions were dropped over the long weekend as a result of Serco’s incompetent attempt to diffuse our signage and administrative bans by docking the operator’s full pay for a session, so operators just stayed away,” said a spokesperson from the Community and Public Sector Union.
“Operators earn barely more than the legal minimum wage at $26 per hour and being attacked while sitting in their vehicles doing their job, having oncoming cars and trucks cross carriageways to swerve at their stationary vehicle, projectiles launched at them as well as constant verbal abuse and social media harassment, to be met with silence from the contractor Serco, who don’t seem to care about anything but shifting their profits off shore, is the last straw.
“It’s well past time for the State Government to review Serco’s performance and consider alternatives for the delivery of this important road safety service and protect these government contracted workers.”
The Victorian Government fined Serco for missing its December KPIs and failing to have mobile speed cameras in operation on the recent Australia Day weekend.
According to the Community and Public Sector Union, between not having cameras operating over the long weekend and today’s 24-hour strike, it “should” guarantee Serco fails to meet KPIs for a second month in a row.
Victorian Police also recently undermined the state’s camera program, with officers observed warning motorists of the cameras.
Officers have been fighting for better pay from the Victorian Government, with the Fair Work Commission in December 2023 approving 19 industrial actions.
