Federal public service workers in Services Australia, incorporating Centrelink, went on strike for 24 hours on October 9 inΒ support of their claim for an improved pay offer from the federal Labor government.
Members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) have launched a series of agency-wide industrial actions after the latest government offer was supported by just 51%.
The CPSU rejected the revised pay offer β a meagre 0.7% rise on the first offer of 10.5% over three years. Both offers βfailed to garner clear support from union membersβ, the CPSU said.
βThere is broad support for the conditionsβ package that has been negotiated, but consensus across the CPSUβs membership is that the Albanese Labor government can and should do better on pay.β
CPSU national secretary Melissa Donnelly said: βThe Albanese Labor government made a commitment to the public service β¦ to become a model employer and to rebuild the APS [Australian Public Service] after a decade of damage and destruction.
βWe have a unique opportunity, with service-wide bargaining, to negotiate a package that brings together 160,000 employees across 103 different agencies after what has been an incredibly challenging decade for public sector workers. But an offer with 51 per cent support doesnβt do that.β
The CPSU said it rejected this offer because βwe should be aiming higher than 50 per cent, plus oneβ.
It said there is βstrong supportβ for the negotiated conditions package, including working from home rights, more paid parental leave, the reintroduction of job security provisions and greater casual loading rates.
But it said every APS worker is βfeeling extreme cost of living pressuresβ and the current pay offer is inadequate.
βOur members are ready to increase pressure as needed to secure a better outcome on pay.β
Donnelly said union members in Services Australia took 24-hour strike action and protected action ballots were being lodged in other workplaces, including the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry and the Fair Work Ombudsman.