The Australian Taxation Office is trying to duck and weave its way out of holding fresh wage talks, according to unions, in the wake of the crushing defeat of its previous pay proposal.
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Tax Office senior bosses have replied coolly to an invitation to sit down again at the bargaining table in early February and one union is threatening to go to the Fair Work Commission to force the ATO to negotiate.
But a senior tax executive says the Christmas/New Year shutdown is making it difficult to schedule bargaining meetings.
The main public service union, the CPSU, and the smaller Australian Services Union have written to the Tax Office asking for bargaining meetings in early February with the larger union including an agenda for discussion.
Feelings are still running high at the ATO after the events of mid-December when a pay offer worth 6 per cent over three years, with 3 per cent to be paid on commencement, was rejected in an 85 per cent to 15 per cent landslide.
Commissioner of Taxation Chris Jordan reacted the same day, by giving about 200 of the ATO's top executives a 3 per cent pay rise with no loss of conditions or entitlements.
But as the Australian Public Service gets back to work, the unions are keen to get back to the bargaining table, arguing that there is a lot to talk about.
"There is clearly sufficient work to justify a meeting at this time," wrote CPSU national president Alistair Waters.
ASU official Jeff Lapidos employed more forceful language in his letter to Steven Ramsey, a senior ATO human resources executive.
"The ASU is not prepared to allow the commissioner to use delaying tactics to avoid timely bargaining," Mr Lapidos wrote.
"The ASU wants a new ATO Enterprise Agreement in place before the end of June 2016."
But Mr Ramsey was unable to make a date with the two unions, replying that he did not even know when a good time might be.
"The ATO is not yet in a position to determine when a meeting might usefully occur," the senior Tax official wrote.
"The leave period is just one impacting factor.
"I will keep you informed as to our thinking."
The union, deeply unhappy with the ATO's response, wrote to its hundreds of members at the agency on Thursday saying it would take legal action under the Fair Work Act, to force Tax Office management back to the table.
"We hope the commissioner will stop dilly-dallying, agree to meet the unions on 2 February and work with us to set out a way forward that will lead to a new Enterprise Agreement that we can all support, one that is in place as soon as is practicable, and no later than the end of June 2016.
"Of course, now that Commissioner Jordan has given the SES a 3 per cent pay increase, perhaps his closest advisors on enterprise bargaining don't feel any economic pressure to get a new agreement in place."
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that the ATO's wage proposal was defeated by 82 per cent to 18 per cent. The actual margin was 85.2 per cent to 14.8 per cent.
