Five APS agencies vote 'yes' on enterprise agreements

The Department of Health and Aged Care, National Health Funding Body, Department of Finance, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of the Treasury have voted "yes" on their enterprise agreements, with another two agencies expected to vote before Christmas.

A total of 103 APS agencies need to vote up their agreements by March 2024 to receive their first pay boost of 4 per cent.

The votes followed eight months of service-wide bargaining, which the government forced to a close in November, after proposing a third and final pay package.

Agencies also began internal negotiations over specific conditions in the latter part of the year. More will vote on their agreements for the next three years in early 2024, the Public Service Commission says.

All staff who voted on the agreement in the National Health Funding Body voFinted in favour of it, while 94.4 per cent of Health staff were supportive of their agreement.

In the Department of Finance, 93.4 per cent of staff voted up the pay and conditions package - the same as the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, while in Treasury, 94 per cent of those who voted supported the agreement.

"This is a positive outcome, and we look forward to continuing this momentum in the first quarter of 2024 to ensure pay increases for all APS employees are not delayed," the Public Service Commission said in an email to staff on Monday.

The votes close out a months-long pay saga for the federal public service, which saw the main public sector union expand industrial action across multiple agencies earlier in the year.

Negotiations blew out past an expected deadline of July, as the commission, unions and agency representatives grappled with a growing list of common conditions, and a pay offer which would satisfy public servants across a wide range of agencies.

The Community and Public Sector Union, which called for a 20 per cent pay rise in March, knocked back the government's first proposal of 10.5 per cent and organised a round of industrial action in Services Australia in May.

Under pressure from a rebel group within the union, and staring down a challenge at internal elections, union leadership rejected a second offer of 11.2 per cent in September, despite narrow support for it.

The government's third offer promised to ensure public servants could receive more of their pay rise sooner, as long as they voted up their enterprise agreements by March.

The CPSU endorsed that offer last month, and a poll of members returned 67.5 per cent support. No agencies have voted down their enterprise agreements so far.