Public servants at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's department have finally agreed in a workplace ballot to accept a new deal on pay and conditions.
About 1750 employees of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet voted, an 81 per cent turnout, and returned an overwhelming 78 per cent Yes-vote.
The vote ends an industrial dispute at the key government outfit that had been rumbling along since the days of the Abbott government with two no-votes and a row over plans to strip departmental employees of dedicated domestic violence leave.
The task of agreeing a new deal was made much more complex by the big wage gaps, of up to $19,000, in some cases between public servants brought into PM&C; from other departments, in the massive expansion under Mr Abbott, and the better paid veterans of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The yes-vote at PM&C; follows decisive ballot results at the Defence and Agriculture departments, the Australian Taxation Office and the CSIRO with the bitter workplace turmoil that has wracked Commonwealth government workplaces since 2014 slowly coming to an end.
But disputes remain unresolved at the giant departments of Human Services and Immigration, which employ about 50,000 public servants between them.
PM&C; Departmental Secretary Martin Parkinson announced the ballot result on Thursday morning saying, he was pleased that employees could now get their first pay rise since 2013.
But there will be no backpay, which is banned under the Coalition's hardline public sector industrial policy.
"I am pleased with this result, as it means that the majority of staff will receive a pay rise and it sets the path for common pay and conditions across the Department," Dr Parkinson wrote.
Even now, PM&C;'s 2160 public servants might have to wait two more months for their pay rise.
"Prior to implementing the Enterprise Agreement, the Fair Work Commission will undertake an assessment of the agreement against the award to ensure that the majority of staff will be better off overall under the new Agreement.
"This process can take up to eight weeks.
"Seven days after Fair Work Commission approval, the Enterprise Agreement will take effect."
The main public sector union, the CPSU, said the deal accepted in the ballot was fairer than previous proposals on public servants drafted into PM&C; from an array of other departments in "machinery of government" changes ordered by the Abbott regime.
"In PM&C; we've reached a much fairer outcome for both the staff merged in from other agencies as well as the staff covered by the previous PM&C; agreement," the union's deputy national secretary Melissa Donnelly said.
"These two results in Tax and PM&C;, along with other recent agreements that have been approved in agencies including Defence, Agriculture and CSIRO, suggests this bitter and protracted round of public sector bargaining may finally be headed towards a resolution.
"That won't happen though until stand-out agencies such as the Department of Human Services get the message on retaining rights and conditions."
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