More Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) members are now able to take protected industrial action after the union successfully ran a Protected Action Ballot in the Fair Work Ombudsman.

90.4% of members voted in the ballot, and members voted overwhelmingly in support of all 3 separate actions: 

• 84.7% voted to take an unlimited number of stoppages of work for periods of up to and including 1 hour.
• 77.6% voted to take an unlimited number of stoppages of work for periods of more than 1 hour and up to and including 24 hours.
• 76.9% voted to take an unlimited number of actions in the form of including an authorised CPSU statement in email signatures.

This is the second Protected Action Ballot successfully run by the union in this round of bargaining and one of three that was initiated after the union rejected the Government’s revised pay offer of 11.2% over three years.

The other ballots yet to conclude are the Meat Inspectors and On Plant Vets within the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. A ballot in the ACCC is set to start in the near future.

Union members in the Fair work Ombudsman are now considering their next steps.

Quotes attributable to Melissa Donnelly, CPSU National Secretary:

“This round of bargaining is a unique opportunity for the government to bring employees from right across the APS together after a decade of attacks on public sector wages and conditions.

“We have already made significant progress on a range of conditions that will improve the working lives of APS employees and open the doors of APS employment up to more and more people.

“But the outstanding issue for workers is pay.

“Every day they see the consequence of lagging salaries – in their pay packets, but also in their workplaces.

“An increased pay offer isn’t just good for APS employees who faced a decade of attacks on their wages, conditions and jobs. It is good for every agency and every department that is struggling to recruit and retain the staff they need to deliver the high-quality public services that Australians deserve.

“There is a clear and simple way forward here for the Government and for the APS as a whole.

Media contact: Tori McGregor 0429 000 620