NSW Sheriff’s Officers from the Gosford Court House joined the first walkout on 4 July. Photos: Facebook/PSA NSW.
Courthouses throughout western NSW closed during a stop-work action by Sherriff’s Officers, joining a statewide effort to battle waning recruitment levels and what they say is poor pay.
On Wednesday (17 July), the Public Service Association (PSA) of NSW led another sheriff walkout over two hours. The action severely impacted 44 courthouses, including those in Dubbo, Bourke, Cobar, Nyngan, Warren, Narromine, Wellington, Rylstone, Mudgee, Gulgong, Dunedoo, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Coonamble, Lightning Ridge, Walgett and Brewarrina.
The public service union claims the Office of the Sheriff has difficulty recruiting and retaining staff, mainly due to their pay failing to keep up with the expansion of sheriff duties over the past decade.
PSA NSW general secretary Stewart Little said sheriffs were highly trained officers who deserved more for “what is risky and stressful work”.
“Sheriffs need a solid pay bump to reflect the dangerous work they do,” he said. ”When enforcing court orders, they’ll be entering people’s properties wearing stab-proof vests and carrying capsicum spray, batons and handcuffs.
“Sheriffs put their lives on the line in courthouses to make sure judges, lawyers and members of the public are safe from crooks and criminals, yet they are paid the same as people with desk jobs and administration roles at the courthouse, it’s just not on.”
Sheriffs, formally known as ”sworn uniformed Sheriff’s Officers”, enforce the law and provide court security.
They enforce orders issued by NSW Local, District and Supreme Courts, along with the High Court, Federal Court and Family Court. Such work includes enforcing writs, serving warrants and Property Seizure Orders issued under the Fines Act 1996.
Their security duties involve maintaining the security of court complexes, which is similar to airport-style perimeter security and scanning, to ensure the safety of judges, magistrates, lawyers and the public.
Sheriffs from the courthouses in (from left) Dubbo, Lismore and Newcastle have participated in this month’s union action.
Mr Little said the 300-plus sheriffs working in more than 170 courthouses across NSW “have tried to play by the rules, but they have just been ignored for over two years”.
“In mid-2022 there was an agency restructure and the senior leadership of the Office of the Sheriff got a significant pay bump,” he said.
“In 2023 there was a review of sheriffs’ pay but the report was never released, under ‘Cabinet in confidence’.
“Sheriffs waited patiently and were told the matter would be resolved in the 2024 budget, but when it was delivered in mid-June nothing happened, and now they’ve been fobbed off again with some other made-up bureaucratic process, so sheriffs have just had enough.”
PSA NSW’s first walkout, on 4 July, involved members of the NSW Sheriff’s Office in the Hunter-North region, which includes Coffs Harbour, Gosford, Lismore, Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Tamworth.
The union members took part in a stop-work meeting to consider and implement any actions they deemed fit in response to the state’s decision not to deliver a pay rise. This action closed down 43 of the 44 courthouses affected for the duration of the stop-work action.
Despite this, the union said it was yet to see any further progress towards resolving the long-standing dispute.
