Bitter pay dispute looms in Australian Prime Minister’s department/

 

If the agreement is approved by the commission, the it will then be put to the prime minister of the day before it faces a vote of EL and APS staff.

A source familiar with the negotiations described senior management’s approach as effectively a “declaration of war” on mid-level and junior staff.

The source said they had written to Julia Gillard’s chief of staff Amanda Lampe nine days ago, calling for her to intervene in the dispute, but to no avail.

Documents obtained by Capital Circle highlight staff concerns about pay and conditions, which include:

That the 3 per cent pay rise on the table is being delivered by an “erosion in conditions”;

Senior executive staff (SES) numbers have been increased since July 2008 at the expense of APS and EL staff;

Management has ignored guidelines on time off in lieu, refused to turn departmental guidelines into policy and refused to bring lieu entitlements into line with Department of Treasury and Finance practice;

That management commenced pay negotiations late and has tried to force through a deal, allowing only seven weeks for negotiations and;

That new pay structures were proposed halfway through negotiations that would see existing staff paid less than staff hired after October 1, when the new agreement would come into effect.

The departmental source told Capital Circle that “PM&C staff have toiled relentlessly for the Rudd/Gillard government, often with little thanks; the EL staff bearing the brunt of the long and arduous hours of policy coordination and development”.

“Management have treated the hardest-working non-SES staff with the utmost contempt; their bargaining tactics are neither fair nor honest.”

The source suggested that departmental staff are particularly concerned about the proposed new pay grades, which could foreshadow new service-wide pay grades being introduced from July 1 next year.

However, other sources familiar with the negotiations have hosed down this this speculation.

Somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of all public service employment agreements expire mid-2011.

The blueprint for reform of the public service, led by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet boss Terry Moran and released in March this year, is also due to come into effect in the middle of next year.

Comment has been sought from the department. Ms Lampe declined to comment.