The attempt by unions to have the Tasmanian Industrial Commission force the Government to give in to the straw man proposal they presented on Friday is the latest in the long line of political games they are playing with their members’ jobs.
If unions wanted to save 500 jobs they would not have lobbied MLCs to reject the pay freeze legislation. If they wanted to save 500 jobs they would have accepted the opportunity to present a proposal for an 18 month pay freeze, which we told them repeatedly was necessary to achieve the required $50 million savings.
The Police Association has taken that opportunity, and subject to their membership voting for the 18 month pay freeze, frontline police services will be quarantined from the need for further savings.
Unlike Labor and the Greens, we do not ignore budget realities because the Unions say so.
We were elected to fix the budget mess and we will do what we promised.
Peter Gutwein, Treasurer
