This was published 7 years ago
Prosecutors' no vote on pay deal indictment on 'nasty bargaining': CPSU
By Katie Burgess
Commonwealth prosecutors have again shot down a pay deal offered by the Turnbull government, in a damning indictment on its "nasty" public sector bargaining policy, the public sector union says.
Sixty-two per cent of staff working for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions who took part in the ballot on Friday voted no to the proposed enterprise agreement, after 69 per cent voted no in May.
Both votes were the first time the CDPP had rejected deals, which Community and Public Sector Union deputy secretary Melissa Donnelly said was a "clear rejection" of the Turnbull government's "nasty" public sector bargaining policy.
"This is an agency that has previously settled fair agreements quickly and with minimum fuss, yet this time have instead for the first time gone on strike and voted no not once but twice," Ms Donnelly said.
The union said the CDPP has seen an increase in staff turnover as a result of the pay dispute, with "dozens" of prosecutors walking out the door after they failed to receive a pay rise in three years.
The federal prosecutor employs 450 people in 10 offices around the country, including in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.
"CDPP staff undertake critical work, prosecuting offenders for matters such as terrorism, drug trafficking, people smuggling, child pornography and fraud against the Commonwealth," Ms Donnelly said.
"As we heard recently during the Senate's damning inquiry into this bargaining mess, Commonwealth prosecutors are deeply unhappy at the government's disrespect for them and their important work."
A CPSU spokesman was unable to disclose specific details of the enterprise agreement on Sunday but said the rejection related to the loss of conditions, rather than an unsatisfactory pay offer.
This is despite a senate report into the government's hardline bargaining strategy last month, recommending it amend its bargaining policy to allow for the retention of existing rights and conditions in full.
Submissions to the Senate's Standing Committee on Education and Employment said morale within public service ranks was at an all-time low following the drawn-out wage disputes.