By Chris Slee and Ben Courtice

Australian Taxation Office workers have rejected an attempt by management to push through a non-union agency agreement. Some 62% of general employees, (those in the lowest seven levels of the public service hierarchy), rejected the proposed ATO (General Employees) Agreement 1998.

However, the ATO (Executive Level 2) Agreement was supported by 66% of senior officer grades. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) campaigned for a no vote in both ballots.

Voting was conducted electronically. Management refused requests to have the ballot run by the Australian Electoral Commission. Doubts about the privacy of the vote may have influenced the vote of some staff who feared a no vote may adversely affect their careers.

The CPSU obtained 5000 signatures on a petition protesting against electronic voting. Nevertheless, the CPSU has said it will consider becoming a party to the executive level 2 agreement in order to prosecute any breaches by management.

It remains to be seen what the managers' next steps will be: will they make a better offer to general employees, or will they wait for award simplification?

Management threatened staff that if the agreement was not accepted, award simplification would remove many conditions. The CPSU leaders say that award simplification is unlikely to result in any significant loss of conditions. They say that management's only option is to offer a better agreement. If management fail to do this, the CPSU point out, the union can take the matter to the Industrial Relations Commission and/or take protected industrial action.

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