A joint union campaign to stop wage cuts within the Department of Defence has had a win, with a nationwide rejection of management’s latest EBA offer.

The resounding “no” vote, which will trigger a series of industrial actions across the Department, was cast by 72% of the civilian workforce (75% of whom voted) last Thursday.  

AMWU National Secretary of the TSA Branch Mike Nicolaides said members were frustrated with the weak offer made by the Department, which included a 3% increase each year over three years.

“That is below CPI which is currently 3.3 percent. It’s predicted to stay around this level until December 2013. If that’s the case then our members will have effectively taken a pay cut.

“No one could accuse them (AWMU members) of being greedy, they’re asking for wages to meet inflation, they want a share of their contribution to productivity and to keep up with market rates.  These aren’t unreasonable requests.”

Mr Nicolaides said the last time an agreement was negotiated, at the height of global financial crisis, workers accepted a conservative increase of 3.1 over two years.

“Now management are offering our members less, with inflation rising- it’s ridiculous.”

It’s a proposal that has angered members, according to AMWU delegate Greg Livingston.

“We are really keen to show Defence we aren’t going to take it lying down.

“They’ve (Department management) been a bit arrogant, I think they thought the workforce would have just accepted their offer. But the no vote has really showed them up. I know my guys are ready to enter industrial action.”

The members who fill a range of civilian roles within the department including technical, maintenance, research, planning and procurement will begin their own site specific industrial action from today (Thursday).

“We want to negotiate a better offer. We’re not taking industrial action for the sake of it,” Mr Nicolaides said. 

“They negotiate with us reasonably and we’ll settle. They haven’t to date.

“The early indications are negotiations will not conclude until late August. Until then there will be a range of industrial action taken at sites around the country.”