United magazine • Summer 2021
The official journal of the United Services Union
The official journal of the United Services Union
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QUICK ACTION HELPS TWEED<br />
BORDER TOWN MEMBERS<br />
members who live in the border communities<br />
of the Tweed Valley and Gold Coast have<br />
USU<br />
had an extra layer of difficulties in day-to-day life presented<br />
to them with the closure of the Queensland border<br />
throughout this year.<br />
In August this year the Queensland government imposed<br />
a very rigid and narrow definition of what constituted<br />
an essential worker crossing the NSW/QLD border. This<br />
meant that apart from critical workers in water, waste<br />
and wastewater, no other Tweed Shire Council employees<br />
who resided over the border would be able to cross the<br />
border to attend work.<br />
Tweed Shire Council approached the USU with an urgent<br />
proposal to be able to do a temporary swapping of employees<br />
affected by the border closure with Gold Coast<br />
City Council. This allowed Gold Coast City Council employees<br />
who lived in NSW to work for Tweed Shire Council<br />
and Queensland based Tweed Shire Council employees to<br />
work for Gold Coast City Council.<br />
The USU immediately worked through this proposal and<br />
supported council in enabling the swap of employees.<br />
The USU immediately worked<br />
through this proposal and<br />
supported council in enabling<br />
the swap of employees.<br />
This allowed USU members to be seconded to Gold Coast<br />
City Council, have meaningful employment and most importantly,<br />
did not need to access the Splinter Award stand<br />
down pay provisions.<br />
Whilst living with COVID-19 has been challenging to us<br />
all, what it has shown that your union is with you by supporting<br />
these first of its kind agreements to minimise the<br />
impact about the border closure to our members and the<br />
local communities they serve.<br />
The Tweed Council General Manager Troy Green and his<br />
team have once again shown leadership in dealing with<br />
the problems faced by Council regarding their employees<br />
being prevented by the border closure to get to their<br />
normal work. Troy also named Suzanne Richmond from<br />
his Management Team as being one of the main people<br />
responsible for achieving this great outcome and we acknowledge<br />
them for their great efforts.<br />
36 <strong>•</strong> <strong>United</strong> <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
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