Heat brings lucky strike for parkers The AGE December 13, 2006
MELBOURNE parking officers will go on strike from 7.30am tomorrow, and cars parked illegally will get away with it unless the city council changes its policy on working outdoors in extreme heat.
"There will be a ban on green signs no one gets an infringement notice if they are parked in a green-sign area," said the Australian Services Union's assistant secretary, Brian Parkinson.
Green-sign areas are most parking spots in the CBD, other than clearway signs and no-standing-any-time zones.
The union represents the city's 102 parking officers. Mr Parkinson said that new rules forced officers to work in blistering heat.
A council spokeswoman said the planned industrial action was illegal, and that council lawyers would appear before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission at noon today to try to have the action lifted.
Previously, officers worked in the office when the temperature topped 38 degrees.
Under council rules introduced on November 1, parking officers can come off the streets when humidity is extremely high. "Last weekend, officers worked in more than 40-degree heat," a council spokeswoman said yesterday. "Staff were required to self-monitor and worked in air-conditioned cars."