The APSC persists in pushing hardline pruning of conditions like hours and leave; public service asked to swallow the decline in real wages.
The Albanese government is set for a major battle with public sector unions after the Australian Public Service Commission produced an initial pay offer averaging just 3% per year over three years, or 9% in total, well below the last pay rise of 11.2% in 2024. The offer is certain to escalate already elevated workplace tensions.
In move that is likely to produce widespread a flurry of applications to Fair Work for protected industrial action across APS agencies the Commonwealth’s negotiators have gone in hard to temper wage rise demands against a backdrop of rising inflation and interest rates as geopolitical tensions and surging oil prices buffet the Australian economy.