THE Australian Workers Union (AWU) is applying for a protected industrial action ballot across Victorian alpine resorts, which may result in work stoppages by resort staff during the snow season. The AWU announced last week that months-long negotiations between ARV employees and the statutory authority had stalled, alleging Alpine Resorts Victoria (ARV) was refusing to address employees’ lack of weekend penalty rates and overtime compensation for working outside of daylight hours. “This is, from the union's perspective, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the alpine industry to fix the discrimination they've faced in their award and in their enterprise agreements for decades, where they get inferior conditions to the rest of the workforce,” AWU regional organiser James Newbold said. According to the AWU, most ARV employees receive no weekend penalty rates and no compensation for irregular shifts in extreme weather conditions. Before industrial action can be deemed legal, employees must apply to the Fair Work Commission for approval to hold a ballot and the employees must vote in favour of taking the action. According to the Fair Work Commission, a ballot can be held when bargaining fails for a new enterprise agreement or the existing agreement is out-of-date. Mr Newbold said the ballot will allow employees to consider a range of industrial actions, including work stoppages of five minutes to a whole day, partial work bans, or bans on work between midnight and 8am. “We hope the ballot itself will send a strong enough message, but we are preparing our members for the eventuality that ARV doesn't see reason here and may force our members' hands to take some actions that are listed on the ballot,” he said. Mr Newbold said the ballot will close on June 25, in time for potential industrial action in the winter school holidays. Alpine Resorts Victoria chief executive officer Amber Gardner said ARV does not expect the ballot to impact holiday makers for the coming ski season. “Progress in our discussions has been positive, with ARV’s approach being to harmonise employment terms and conditions for employees, by generally adopting the most generous provision from our current enterprise agreements for each entitlement,” she said. “Discussions will continue in the coming weeks, and we are confident these will continue to be productive. “We’re disappointed that employees who are members of the AWU have been asked to vote on possible industrial action. “However, we respect the rights of our people to choose whether or not to participate. “We are committed to achieving an outcome that delivers benefits for staff as well as delivering a sustainable future for the resorts.” ARV has been in ongoing negotiations with the union regarding updated enterprise agreements since last year, following the merger of four alpine resort management boards in 2022. According to ARV, they have been working with staff representatives to merge the four different enterprise agreements of the previous boards into one agreement.
