ATO staff reject revised enterprise agreement, again

Date
    May 6, 2016
    Sydney Morning Herald

The Coalition's hardline stance on public service industrial relations will cost it votes in the election, unions say, in the wake of two big defeats for the government's policy.   

On Thursday, public servants at the Australian Taxation Office again emphatically rejected a new workplace deal developed under the government's hardline bargaining policy with a 71 per cent no-vote.

The result at the Tax Office comes on the back of Wednesday's no-vote at the Defence Department where 18,000 public servants rejected the proposed deal by a margin of nearly 55 per cent to 45, an increase on last month's knife edge no-vote.


The two results, so close to the likely announcement of an election and caretaker period, mean the Coalition has failed to impose its industrial relations agenda on most of the Australian public service after a two-year battle, with only about 30,000 workers, or 20 per cent of the workforce, signing up for agreements offered under the policy.

Australian Electoral Commission public servants will begin voting on Tuesday.
Labor committed last month to ripping up the bargaining policy if it prevails in the federal election, a move that could be a factor in several marginal seats around the country with large numbers of public sector or Defence families.

Union activists reported Labor's policy announcement as a factor in the result at Defence and in the wake of the ATO's no-vote, the main public sector union, the CPSU, vowed to take its fight against the policy into the federal election, likely to be held on July 2.

"Workers in tax and Defence who've rejected these dud deals have told us they're looking forward to soon voting on a bigger stage in the federal election, along with tens of thousands of people working across the public sector," the union's national secretary Nadine Flood said.    

"They've rejected these unreasonable agreements and soon they'll have their chance to reject the Turnbull government and its ideologically driven attacks on public sector workers and the essential services they provide."   

Commissioner Chris Jordan told his staff on Thursday afternoon that he was "very disappointed" at the 71 per cent no vote.

"There has been a 'no' vote by the majority of employees who cast their vote. Overall, 85 per cent of eligible employees voted, and of these, 71.5 per cent voted against the offer," the Commissioner wrote

"I am very disappointed that we didn't reach agreement.

"Given that the government is likely to announce an election soon, we are not in a position to give certainty about the next steps at this time."

The two results, so close to the likely announcement of an election and caretaker period mean the Coalition has failed to impose its industrial relations agenda on most of the Australian public service, with only about 30,000 workers, or 20 per cent of the workforce, signing up for agreements offered under the policy.

In the wake of the tax ballot, the Australian Services Union said it, too, was disappointed that Mr Jordan did not sit down with it and other unions during the bargaining process.

"The ASU is very disappointed Commissioner Jordan didn't attempt to negotiate an agreement with the unions," union official Jeff Lapidos said.

"There will continue to be no votes until the Commissioner is prepared to negotiate."

Those lazy bastards don't vote liberal anyway, so not much of a threat is it?