Military personnel may be seething over a below-inflation pay offer but federal bureaucrats could receive substantially worse: nothing.
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At least two agencies – the Australian Crime Commission and the Australian Research Council – are proposing a 0 per cent pay rise for staff.
If inflation forecasts hold true, that would amount to an effective pay cut of about $2500 to $3000 a year for a typical employee (an executive level 1 officer).
Most attempts by other government workplaces to negotiate higher increases have been knocked back after the Public Service Commission deemed them too generous.
In contrast, the Abbott government has endorsed a 1.5 per cent a year raise for its soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen – an offer military families described as "insultingly low". Reserve Bank forecasts suggest the annual inflation rate will be about 2.5 to 2.75 per cent over the next two years.
The federal bureaucracy began negotiating more than 100 separate wage deals for public servants earlier this year but has made little progress.
Under the government's bargaining policy, agencies can only increase staff salaries if they prove to the Public Service Commission that they can pay for them with productivity savings, which are notoriously difficult to measure in the public sector.
The commission, individual agencies and unions remain tight-lipped about the deals under negotiation. The commission said "no enterprise agreements have been approved", but added that agencies did not need its approval if they planned to offer staff no extra money.
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Staff at the Crime Commission and the Research Council confirmed this week that their workplaces have drawn up agreements that contain no pay rises.
But despite its 0 per cent offer, it is understood the Research Council, which employs just 120 people, is still struggling to gain approval for the rest of its deal, due to government concerns that council staff have better conditions than other public servants.
The Public Service Commission has informally approved an Australian Financial Security Authority proposal to offer its staff a 0.5 per cent raise in the first year of their agreement.
Authority staff at the top of their pay levels could then receive raises worth about 1.4 per cent in the agreement's second and third years, but only if they cut significantly the amount of sick leave they take.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday he would like to pay defence personnel more but "until we get the budget back under control, there has got to be general pay restraint across the public sector".
"... I would be very surprised if anyone in the Commonwealth public sector receives more than is received by our defence forces," Mr Abbott said.
The Community and Public Sector Union has applied for permission for staff at several agencies to strike.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz said on Tuesday the union's "unrealistic 12.5 per cent pay claim, backed by threats of industrial action, is neither responsible nor realistic and cruelly raises expectations".
"The CPSU's unhelpful approach seems to be the product of it needing to justify its extravagant claims to save face," Senator Abetz said.
"It would be highly unfortunate if industrial action disrupts the processing of pensions and other payments to vulnerable Australians in the lead-up to Christmas."
