There will be changes to on-the-spot fines as Kyabram police officers campaign for better pay.
Police officers in Kyabram are participating in the statewide industrial action being performed by The Police Association of Victoria.
Industrial action began on Friday, September 20, with 15,000 police officers across Victoria taking a stand against the Victorian Government for better pay and better working conditions.
The industrial action includes limiting on-the-spot fines, alerting drivers to speed cameras, writing slogans on windows of police vehicles and putting posters for the campaign in police stations.
Kyabram Leading Senior Constable Damien Druggon said all members of the police station would participate in the industrial action.
“What was offered to us last time was totally unacceptable for the amount of work that we do and what we have to put up with,” he said.
Leading Sen Constable Druggon cited Operation Bastion, the code name for the police presence at the anti-war protest outside the Land Forces Expo in Melbourne, as a good example of what police had to endure.
At the protest, police were reported to have been pelted with animal faeces, rocks, rotten eggs and tomatoes.
“They’re the types of things that we deal with day in, day out — being spat at, punched, kicked — and we just want a decent deal,” Leading Sen Constable Druggon said.
“The government is dragging their feet on any acceptable deal that the police members want to hear.”
Leading Sen Constable Druggon said that fines would be “dealt with in a different way” to prevent revenue raising for the government.
“Instead of just receiving a penalty notice roadside, they’ll have to go to court,” he said.
However, he did specify that if people were speeding it would still be considered an offence and, depending on the speed, they may still get a fine.
TPAV has entered stage two of the industrial action, where police officers will opt out of voluntary work, including working events such as the AFL grand final.
The police union is seeking a 24 per cent increase in wages across the next four years, with an introduction of 8.5-hour shifts that include the time it takes for officers to be kitted up.
Conversations between TPAV and the government have been ongoing for the past year.
In May, TPAV representatives initially accepted a deal for an increase of three per cent a year for four years.
The offer was put to a vote with the entire union in August and was ultimately rejected.