The rubber has hit the road in APS service-wide bargaining, with the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) today tabling its APS-wide pay offer of 10.5% over three years: 4% in the first year, 3.5% in the second year and 3% in the third year.

CPSU members are now voting on whether the pay offer is good enough and have until May 30th to do so. The outcome of that vote and feedback will guide the bargaining team in their next steps.

The union’s pay claim, which was endorsed overwhelmingly by members, is front-loaded: 9% in the first year, 6% in the second year and 5% in the third year.

After a decade of attacks on the public service and public service workers, this first round of bargaining has a lot of work to do to get the APS back on track. This is especially true if the government is to fulfill its pre-election commitments of becoming a model employer and getting wages moving.

Quotes attributable to Melissa Donnelly, CPSU National Secretary:

“The APSC has tabled a pay offer of 10.5% over three years, which we will now take directly to our tens of thousands of CPSU members for them to vote and provide feedback on.

“That feedback and the outcome of the voting process will inform next steps for the union and our bargaining team.

“To be engaging in genuine negotiations with the government, on pay and conditions, is a far cry from where we were just a year ago.

“This time last year APS workers were in the final days of what was a decade long assault on the public service and public service workers.

“It has left the APS with workplaces, pay and conditions that simply don’t meet the standards of the modern labour market.

“While I will not pre-empt feedback from CPSU members on the pay offer tabled by the APSC, I will say that our pay claim is ambitious because it has to be.

“To rebuild the APS, service-wide bargaining must deliver improvements to pay and conditions that are not ignorant to the consequences of the last decade.

“The public, public sector workers and the Federal Government need the APS to catch up, and catch up quickly to meet the demands and competition that exist in the modern labour market.

Media contact: Tori McGregor 0429 000 620