More money on the table for federal bureaucrats

The Albanese government has marginally increased its pay offer to 150,000 federal public servants to 11.2 per cent over three years.

Commonwealth and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly.

The Albanese government has marginally increased its pay offer to 150,000 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.

Community and Public Sector Union members had voted down the government’s initial offer of a 4 per cent pay rise in the first year, 3.5 per cent in the second year and 3 per cent in the third year.

The CPSU’s pay claim seeks 9 per cent in the first year, 6 per cent in the second year and 5 per cent in the third year.

The new offer, released by the Australian Public Service Commission on Tuesday, proposes increases of 4 per cent in March next year, 3.8 per cent in March 2025 and 3.4 per cent in March 2026.

The government said the March operating date for next year’s first increase would allow about 50 agencies to bring ­forward their next scheduled pay increase.

It said more than 50 agencies that would normally receive a pay increase before March next year would get a “realignment payment” to help them move to the new wage rises date. The government said a revised base salary structure would seek to address “pay fragmentation” across the public sector, benefiting almost 8000 workers across 83 agencies by 2026.

Primary caregivers are being offered 18 weeks’ parental leave, an increase for 94 agencies, while secondary caregivers would ­receive eight weeks’ parental leave, rising to 18 weeks over the life of the agreement.

Eligible workers would be paid premature birth leave from the date of birth, to what would have been 37 weeks’ gestation, a new entitlement for the APS.

Qualifying periods for paid parental leave will be removed. The government said broad support for 37 common conditions had been achieved.

APS Bargaining chief negotiator Peter Riordan said the government offer represented “fair and equitable reward for the ­essential work APS employees do serving Australians”.

It recognises contemporary ­expectations around work and the diversity of the APS workforce, with conditions supporting equity, diversity, mobility and flexible work, he said. “Today I was able to offer a package of pay, enhancements, flexible work arrangements and significant improve­ments to parental leave entitle­ments for both primary and secondary caregivers.

“Service-wide bargaining was an opportunity for genuine consideration of a range of conditions affecting APS employees. I considered over 1500 claims across more than 90 topics over the past five months.”

The CPSU said it would consult with workers on the revised offer ahead of a member poll that would determine the union’s position on the overall package.

In a statement ahead of the offer being released, the union’s national secretary, Melissa Donnelly said the offer “needs to be about more than pay – it must be about rebuilding the APS”.

“Our members want to see improvements to pay packets so salaries can start to catch up with the cost of living. They also want to see improvements so their workplaces aren’t riddled with ongoing ­vacancies and unsafe workloads.”