Fair Work Ombudsman staff vote on strike action

FWO employees will vote on industrial action ranging from one hour stoppages to 24 hour strikes.

Melissa Donnelly, CPSU national Secretary. Picture: CPSU

Employees at the Fair Work Ombudsman will vote on taking strike action ranging from one hour stoppages to 24 hour strikes as the Community and Public Sector Union increases pressure on the Albanese Government to lift its public sector pay offer by expanding industrial action.

The Fair Work Commission has approved a protected action ballot of workers at the Fair Work Ombudsman which follows federal public sector employees at Services Australia threatening to strike for 24 hours on October 9.

The government last month marginally increased its wage offer to 160,000 federal public servants to 11.2 per cent over three years, a rise of 0.7 per cent and well below the union claim of 20 per cent.

The proposed annual wage increases are 4 per cent from March next year, 3.8 per cent 12 months later and 3.4 per cent from March 2026.

A CPSU poll of 15,000 members found 51.9 per cent support for the offer and 48.1 per cent rejecting it, with the union saying the slim majority reflected “lukewarm support” and the government needed to increase the level of proposed wage rises.

The protected action ballot of FWO employees will close on October 23, with workers to vote on a range of potential action including an unlimited number of stoppages up to an hour and unlimited stoppages from one hour to 24 hours.

Another action is the inclusion of an authorised CPSU statement in email signatures of FWO employees.

CPSU national secretary Melissa Donnelly confirmed the expansion of the industrial action.

“The Albanese Labor Government made a commitment to the public service prior to their election to become a model employer and to rebuild the APS after a decade of damage and destruction,” Ms Donnelly said. “The CPSU intends on holding them to that commitment.”

“Union members in Services Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman will not be the only APS employees participating in industrial action. It is a list that will grow as needed and we will be lodging further applications for Protected Action Ballots this week.

“We have a unique opportunity with service-wide bargaining to negotiate a package that brings together a fragmented and disparate APS. But an offer with 51 per cent support doesn’t do that.”

Ms Donnelly said there was strong support for the conditions package that has been negotiated “but in order to move forward the Albanese Labor Government needs to improve its pay offer”.