Parliamentary staffers are having to defend their workplace rights as the nation winds down for Christmas with a vote for their enterprise agreement thrust upon them just before the holidays.
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Staffers, such as political advisors and electorate officers, are covered by the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act and enterprise bargaining is conducted with the Finance Department.
The government suspended negotiations for the new enterprise agreement in February and only engaged with unions and staff again in October when compelled to do so by the Fair Work Commission.
Some of the claims made by workers and denied by Finance include provisions for family and domestic violence leave, a minimum wage rise percentage and the ability to cash out time off in lieu, or TOIL.
Labor Member for Bean David Smith said the offer provided to parliamentary staff and the timing of the vote was "a disgrace".
"I know how hard my staff have worked this year and the number of different queries they've had to follow up," Mr Smith said.
"But it's been the same right across the country, whether it's Labor, Liberal or crossbench offices. Our staff have had to work really hard and it's a bit of a disgrace they've been provided with this offer.
"It's just incredibly cynical to put an agreement offer out to a vote in either late December or early January.
"These are times where you're likely going to have a lot of staff on leave or focusing on getting their work done for the year instead of thinking about something like this."
A Finance Department spokesperson said bargaining had been conducted in accordance with the public sector workplace relations policy.
"The proposed enterprise agreement provides a fair and affordable pay offer and enhancements to key conditions," the spokesperson said.
However, many workers are understood to be unhappy with what has been offered, particularly regarding concerns about wage theft where they believe they are not properly compensated for overtime.
While employees are paid an allowance for working overtime, the current arrangements allow for about nine hours a week. Many staff regularly work more than what is covered by the allowances.
If staff don't get an overtime allowance they accrue TOIL, but often cannot use it and it does not get payed out.
This means if an MP loses their seat in an election or resigns from parliament, the staffer cannot receive their overtime compensation.
Unions have requested for additional overtime to be converted to TOIL and for all TOIL to be payable (including as annual leave) but this has been denied. Finance said it would be an enhancement of conditions without a trade-off in return.
Wage growth for staffers is also going to be tied to the Wage Price Index, similar to the recently announced wage growth policy for public servants.
Mr Smith said it was disappointing the department would not agree to a minimum percentage increase for wages as the index was predicted to be low for at least the next two years. He said it was possible staff could face a situation of zero or negative wage growth without a minimum guaranteed increase.
He said that when you compared the work completed by parliamentary staffers with those doing similar work in the APS, staffers were generally under-classified and paid worse.
For example, the most senior electorate officers, who manage an MPs office and is the highest ranked staffer for backbenchers, earns about $85,000 per year.
"The passion and interest for the work, and wanting to make a contribution, can end up being exploited a little," Mr Smith said.
The United Services Union's Peter Campise, who manages the team responsible for public sector bargaining, said the government had been "arrogant and unwilling to negotiate".
He said while the union had secured agreements in other sectors of 2-3 per cent wage growth, parliamentary staffers were being asked to settle for a wage freeze after a difficult year.
