Brisbane news live: Council hopeful pay deal will end service disruptions

Brisbane City Council believes a new wages agreement will end weeks of industrial action without forcing ratepayers to cover the unions’ “outlandish claims”.

In a statement late on Thursday, Deputy Mayor Fiona Cunningham said the newly negotiated enterprise bargaining agreement – a 7.35 per cent pay rise over two years, backdated to October – was a “fair and reasonable outcome”.

It came after library and call centre staff took industrial action on Thursday, and with bus drivers planning more action on Friday afternoon.

“The wage agreement we have reached ensures council staff will receive a pay rise well above inflation but well below the outlandish initial claims by unions,” Cunningham said.

“We strongly believe if current legislation allowed us to directly ballot our staff, this agreement would have been finalised months ago and residents would not have been inconvenienced by union strike action.”

Unions – who were demanding double-digit pay rises, compared to council’s previous offer of 7 per cent – had yet to comment.