Still no movement on ACMA agreement
Bargaining for a new agreement at the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) remains in a politically-induced coma thanks to the Turnbull government’s public sector wage policy.
While the government has tweaked its original policy a little since it was introduced in 2014, pay rises are still capped at 2% per annum and even then are supposed to the “bought” through trading off conditions.
This formula has not been popular with ACMA employees who have now twice rejected proposed agreements based on it.
CWU members have been considering ways of squeezing some value out of the meagre offer on the table and have recently proposed a wage rise schedule of 3 +3 +0 over three years as a way of making up lost ground more quickly in the short term while still staying within an average 2% regime.
But it is by no means clear that the Commonwealth will agree to this approach. Meanwhile, ACMA continues to ask for “offsets” in return for any wage increases.
The CWU believes the agency may try to put the agreement –or non-agreement – out for a vote again some-time in the coming 6-8 weeks.
Third time lucky? Perhaps not.
