The Prime Minister's department has thrown another $8 million in pay rises on to the table in a second attempt to reach a wages deal with its public servants.
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But the elite Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet says the cupboard is now bare of any more sweeteners to be offered to its 2400 workers after scraping scarce resources together for its "significantly better offer".
They have been offered an "effective" pay rise of 4.5 per cent with no cuts to conditions and entitlement beyond those already proposed.
The outcome of the talks at the influential "central agency" will be keenly watched across the 160,000-strong Australian Public Service, most of which faces stalemate in wage negotiations and with escalating strike action by one department, Immigration, set to disrupt air travel around Australia on Wednesday.
PM&C negotiators put the new offer to the Community and Public Sector Union on Tuesday in a bid to break the deadlock which has gripped the talks since the first offer was made in February.
The response from the workforce in February, to an offer of 0.7 per cent a year in return for working 1.3 per cent more hours, was underwhelming, sending departmental bosses back to the drawing board.
The new deal "effectively" pays 4.5 per cent over three years, according to the department's management, broadly in line with a new set of revised offers made to public servants at the Public Service Commission, Communications, Attorney-General's and the Treasury.
There are big pay gaps between PM&C veterans and their new workmates of up to $10,000 a year or more on some classifications.
But in a complex offer, PM&C has proposed slowing down the pay advancement of those at the top of the pile and speeding up wage increases for workers at the bottom, bringing the department's workforce closer to pay parity.
"The department's revised offer effectively represents a 4.5 per cent pay rise for staff over the three-year life of the agreement," a PM&C spokesman said.
"The offer comprises a 3.5 per cent across-the-board pay rise, with the extra 1 per cent to cover additional increments brought about by moving all staff to a single pay structure which will close the pay disparity that followed the machinery-of-government changes.
"This is the best offer the department can make if staff move to a single pay structure."
PM&C staffers were also worried about changes to their superannuation guarantee and cuts to remote area allowances, both of which have been dropped from the new proposal.
"Based on feedback from staff, the department has addressed the four key areas of concern that staff had with the initial proposal put forward in February," the spokesman said.
"This has resulted in the department putting a significantly better offer on the table – with the cost to the department over the life of the agreement up from $14 million to $22 million.
"The additional cost has been fully offset through internal savings – rather than further changes to employment terms and conditions – based on feedback and ideas from staff.
"Importantly, no staff reductions are required to meet these savings."
The offer is now with the Community and Public Sector Union which will make a decision on whether to recommend the new proposal to its members, before an all-workforce ballot is held.
