Negotiations between public service unions and the federal government have yet to produce an agreement and further bargaining will take place next February. The unions are looking for an increase of 1.5% but the government offer is only 0.8%, below the forecast inflation rate of 1%. The unions argue that federal finances are sound with surpluses predicted for both 2018 and 2019 while the economy is also set to grow by 2%. On this basis they argue that federal government workers deserve a pay rise at least in line with inflation.
Federal government pay offer inadequate
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Union anger over inadequate pay offers
Public service trade unions have reacted angrily to a series of pay offers that they argue fail to compensate workers for inflation or for the massive efforts made to maintain services during the pandemic. The 3% pay offer for health workers has been widely condemned and unions are consulting with members about what action to take. The unions point out that the pay rise is too low to have any impact on the serious staff shortages that persist across the health sector. Meanwhile local government employers have made a small increase to their pay offer, but this still means only a 1.75% increase
First round of bargaining produces inadequate offer from employers
The vida and GPA-DJP trade unions have been involved in the first round of bargaining of the private health and social services agreement that covers 90,000 workers. A starting point is the rate of inflation in the year to October (3.04%) and although the unions found the negotiations constructive they were disappointed that the employers’ initial offer was well below this level. The next round of bargaining will be on 12 January. Read more at > vida (DE)
Public service federations reject pay offer and call for proper negotiations
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