The main public sector union has launched another legal attack on the federal government over the Australian Public Service's three-year pay dispute, alleging bad faith and a refusal to negotiate.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Community and Public Sector Union accuses Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, in an application to the Fair Work Commission, of a "failure to engage in good faith around enterprise agreements for Commonwealth public sector workers".
The union says the case is based on what it calls Senator Cash's refusal to talk to the CPSU or to "consider the union's fair and reasonable proposals to settle bargaining across multiple Commonwealth agencies".
The minister was dismissive on Tuesday of the union's efforts, saying the legal action was a "frivolous stunt" and she was not an officially recognised bargaining representative.
The action, against 11 agencies and departments and all naming the minister as a party to the case, is part of an orchestrated effort from the union to force progress on the stalemate still affecting up to 100,000 public servants around Australia.
It follows an unsuccessful bid in the commission in May this year to force the minister to send delegates to talks in each of the agencies and departments thatare still in dispute with their workforces.
The union says its latest strategy also includes strikes by Border Force and Agriculture Department officials at international airports and other sites, community campaigning targeting marginal electorates and repeated efforts to engage directly with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Senator Cash.
CPSU national president Alistair Waters said the application to the commission was about challenging the government's approach to bargaining, in particular the unpopular Abbott-era "public sector bargaining policy".
"Minister Michaelia Cash is responsible for setting and implementing the Turnbull government's harsh and unworkable approach to public sector bargaining," Mr Waters said on Tuesday.
"We're taking her to Fair Work to hold her and the Turnbull government accountable for this debacle that's unfairly attacked workers for nearly three years.
"Minister Cash hasn't just refused to meet with the CPSU, she has also publicly misrepresented our position on numerous occasions and otherwise tried to undermine our attempts to help her fix the Turnbull government's bargaining mess.
"There's a bitter irony that we've had to take Minister Cash to the Fair Work Commission to get her to fulfil even her most basic obligations.
"This is the person who as Employment Minister is responsible for the Fair Work Act she's flouting by actively undermining bargaining.
"Public sector workers have fought for nearly three years to protect their existing rights against this government's bargaining attacks and they are determined to secure a fair and reasonable outcome."
A spokesman for Senator Cash dismissed the union's approach.
"As [CPSU national secretary] Nadine Flood well knows, the minister is not a bargaining representative," he said.
"The government will not be distracted by the CPSU's frivolous stunts."
"Nadine Flood continues to get in the way of public servants receiving pay rises."
