Dubbo road workers strike for higher pay amid rising costs of living

Working 24/7, road workers are typically taking home $961.50 a week despite a recent minimum wage rise to $812.44, barely able to meet weekly rents or mortgages amid a sharply rising cost of living.

Recently, these workers were offered a three per cent wage increase, but they claim only 2.5 per cent trickle into their wallets because of the 0.5 per cent superannuation contribution, a spokesman for the workers, Geoff Dawson said.

Thousands of road workers employed by the NSW government's Roads and Maritime Services walked out of 86 depots last Thursday, seeking higher wages.

The road workers at the Dubbo depot gathered at the rotunda on Macquarie Street and spoke to media about the salary level they claimed are "wage stresses that are just not meeting a [decent] standard of living".

"That [$50K] has been their base salary in the last 10 years...none of them gets over $75,000 and they work 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he Mr Dawson said.

"They are road construction and maintenance workers...They maintain our highways and amenities, patch potholes, reseal highways, line marking, repair cracks on the road, slash [overgrown grass or trees] on the side of the road and make it safe for everyone that travels on it.

"They don't sit at home and patch potholes, it doesn't work that way."

Mr Dawson, a retired RMS employee in Dubbo, has spoken on behalf of the workers, saying road workers on the lower rung are among the most vital employees of the state government but they have long been overlooked for wage increases to keep up with inflation.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"They just want above 3.5 per cent and they are not asking much or over 5 percent, they just want something that shows they are respected for the jobs they do," he said.

"They've done everything throughout the pandemic and they are people who can't work from home, they're employed to work on the highways, they're on call 24/7 and there's no opportunity for them to sit at home.

"Their base salary is $50,000 and team leaders up to $75,000...they have families, rents, mortgages, children at school, medicals, petrol and vehicles rego like we all do and health to look after."

When Mr Dawson retired from RMS two years ago after over 40 years as a local road worker, he said he was earning $36 an hour, or $25 more for over 40 years of service. He started with $11.02 cents per hour in the 1980s as a road worker.