Government increases pay offer for Tasmania’s public sector workers

UPDATED: The State Government has has warned the public service they may lose their back pay if the latest pay offer isn’t accepted.

Premier Will Hodgman has offered public sector workers a 2.1 per cent pay rise, up by 0.1 per cent on previous offers. Picture: DAVID KILLICK

PREMIER Will Hodgman has warned public servants they will miss out on back pay if they don’t accept a new wages offer containing a 0.1 per cent sweetener within three weeks.

After 18 months of negotiations and industrial unrest failed to achieve an resolution, Mr Hodgman put a one-year deal on the table in State Parliament on Wednesday.

It came with a pay increase of 2.1 per cent, backdated to December – an increase of 0.1 per cent on previous offers.

One union leader described the increase as “measly”.

“This 2.1 per cent is consistent with CPI, it is a larger pay increase than has been previously

proposed for the first 12 months and, in the case of the education union, that they agreed to for the next year,” Mr Hodgman told Parliament.

“We want to reach an agreement by 30 June this year, which will enable the processing of the new salary rate and back pay as soon as the relevant agreement is registered.

“If agreement cannot be reached by 30 June 2019, then it is unlikely that back pay will be further considered.”

The Government has previously offered pay rises totalling 7 per cent over three years. Unions have indicated a willingness to accept less than their initial demands of 9 per cent.

Mr Hodgman said the budget could not afford a better offer.

“My Government has been negotiating in very good faith,” he said.

“We have had more than

100 formal meetings with unions on wage agreements. Unions have been asked to come back with counteroffers and offset strategies.

“Some unions are now even refusing to engage with our negotiating teams to present

their offers.”

Unions on Wednesay expressed frustration at the Government’s decision to amend its deal at the end of two weeks of consultation with members on the existing offer.

Community and Public Sector Union general secretary Tom Lynch said there was little detail in the new offer and no promise of a better outcome for talks.

“We really don’t know what 12-month period they’re talking about,” he said.

“The last agreement expired on the 30th of June 2018, so a new deal would expire in three weeks time.

“And how are they going to change their behaviour so we can have some confidence we’re going to be able to reach an agreement in the next six months?”

Health and Community Sector Union secretary Tim Jacobson described the increased pay offer as “measly”.

“So much for good faith negotiations. The 2.1 per cent appeared in the media and the parliament even before negotiators knew about it,” he said.

“They can say they’re negotiating in good faith for as long as they like but nobody believes it.”

Both union leaders called on Mr Hodgman to take a personal role in solving the dispute — saying the current negotiators did not have sufficient authority to strike a deal.