The Public Service Commission has tabled a revised pay offer of 11.2 per cent for federal public servants over the next three years, lifting its offer by 0.7 percentage point.
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Chief negotiator Peter Riordan tabled the government's new proposal on Tuesday, after members of the main public sector union rejected the initial offer in May.
The offer would mean a pay lift of 4 per cent March 2024, 3.8 per cent March 2025, and 3.4 per cent in March 2026.
If agreed to, the first increase would allow around 50 agencies to bring forward their next scheduled pay increase.
The commission has also tabled adjustments to a pay equity model, aimed at lifting the salaries of the lowest paid agencies.
The model sets minimum salaries across all APS agencies, and is expected to reduce fragmentation from 26 per cent to 18 per cent.
The revision would lift the minimum salary for those at APS1 classifications, from $49,590 to $52,000, in a move the government expects will double the number of beneficiaries from 1213 to 2216.
Full revised offer:
- 11.2 per cent over three years, with an increase of 4 per cent, 3.8 per cent and 3.4 per cent per year from March 2024.
- A revised pay equity model, which would lift salary scales in 83 different agencies.
- Primary caregivers to receive 18 weeks parental leave, an increase for 94 agencies. Secondary caregivers will receive eight weeks parental leave, and rising to 18 weeks over the life of the enterprise agreement. Paid premature birth leave from the date of birth, to what would have been 37 weeks gestation, a new entitlement for the APS.
The new equity model would mean salary scales in 83 different agencies would be lifted, up from 48 agencies in the earlier version.
Mr Riordan said the offer was a "fair and equitable reward for the essential work APS employees do".
"It recognises contemporary expectations around work and the diversity of the APS workforce, with conditions supporting equity, diversity, mobility and flexible work."
But Australian Services Union tax branch secretary Jeff Lapidos said the offer would not have a meaningful impact on the Australian Taxation Office.
"The proposed pay increase will not allow the ATO to recruit and retain specialist staff replace its over-reliance on consultants or foster the effective and efficient administration of its taxation, superannuation and registration systems," Mr Lapidos said.
CPSU members to consider offer after industrial action
Members of the Community and Public Sector Union voted against the 10.5 per cent offer, and the union has since undertaken two rounds of industrial action in Services Australia, in an effort to push the government towards a more ambitious model.
The union will now take the revised offer to its members to consider and then vote on, in a process it expects will take two weeks.
The government had hoped to conclude service-wide bargaining by the end of the month, after it blew out from the end of July, the initial deadline to wrap up talks. Bargaining began in March and has since considered more than 1500 claims from employee bargaining representatives.
On superannuation, the government has proposed all employees continue to receive 15.4 per cent, regardless of which fund they belong to. This represents no change to an offer on super made by Mr Riordan in June.
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Mr Riordan also proposed changes to parental leave entitlements, which would make 18 weeks of parental leave a common condition, eight weeks of parental leave for secondary caregivers and paid premature birth leave from the date of birth, to what would have been 37 weeks gestation.
There are no further bargaining meetings scheduled as of Tuesday.
The set of common pay and conditions agreed in this round of bargaining will then be included in enterprise agreements, once a second round of bargaining at the agency level concludes.
More to come.
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Miriam Webber
Miriam Webber is a federal politics and public sector reporter, with a keen interest in integrity, transparency and accountability in government. She has been a member of the federal political bureau since 2023, and previously worked as the city reporter. Reach her at miriam.webber@canberratimes.com.au
Miriam Webber is a federal politics and public sector reporter, with a keen interest in integrity, transparency and accountability in government. She has been a member of the federal political bureau since 2023, and previously worked as the city reporter. Reach her at miriam.webber@canberratimes.com.au
