Australian Taxation Office management has announced it will put its draft enterprise agreement to a vote of all ATO staff during a seven-day period starting on June 24, after negotiations with the unions ended in disagreement.
From June 15 to June 17 the Community and Public Sector Union held a ballot of its ATO members to decide the union's attitude to management's proposal.
The CPSU's Tax Section Council recommended that union members reject management's offer. Results of the ballot are not available at the time of writing, but members are expected to strongly support the Section Council recommendation.
Management's draft includes pay rises totalling 9% over three years. CPSU members are concerned this may be less than the rate of inflation over that time.
ATO management says its offer reflects the federal government's policy of limiting public service pay rises to 3% a year. Similar disputes are occurring in other federal government agencies.
The government has rejected the CPSU's call for a general levelling-up of Australian public service pay rates, which are very unequal between different departments. Workers in agencies with a predominantly female and/or Indigenous workforce tend to be paid less.