Union outcry as top public servants win $300K pay rises | #Ausunions

With thousands of CPSU members campaigning for pay rises that at least keep pace with inflation, news about $250,000+ pay increases for APS agency heads has not gone down well.

---

Union outcry as top public servants win $300K pay rises

Joe Kelly and Siobhain Ryan
The Australian - 28 September, 2011

The public sector union has railed against expected $300,000 pay rises for some of Australia's most senior public servants, contrasting the income boost with the pay packets of thousands of Customs staff who yesterday walked off the job.

The Community and Public Sector Union yesterday said news of bolstered pay packages for agency heads -- including Customs chief Michael Carmody -- had "not gone down well".

CPSU national secretary Nadine Flood said Customs and quarantine staff had rejected a pay rise of 3 per cent a year over three years because it did not match the rising cost of living and thousands of employees were on less than $60,000 a year.

She said the expected pay increase for public service bosses showed the different standards that applied to public service chiefs and their staff.

"There is no doubt that agency heads work hard and should be paid appropriately," she said.

"However, for the thousands of APS staff who earn on average less than $60,000 a year, these increases seem a bit rich. Staff feel like they are doing all the hard work, but it's only the agency heads who are get the big rewards."

As reported yesterday in The Australian, current pay packages for the chief of Customs, the chief of the Defence Force, the tax commissioner, the auditor-general and the Australian statistician are expected to be lifted from about $500,000 a year to about $800,000 to provide parity with salaries in the corporate world.

The lift would broaden the pay gap between agency heads and their deputies. For example, the Remuneration Tribunal determined the vice-chief of the Defence Force would receive $380,880 per annum as of July 1, creating a potential pay gap of more than $400,000.

The tribunal has also indicated it will move to increase pay rates for departmental secretaries following the passage of legislation giving it the power to set the pay rates for the head of Prime Minister and Cabinet as well as Treasury.

Special Minister of State Gary Gray yesterday said it was important the tribunal conduct its review of salaries independently of politics.

"We have a process that allows for an independent Australian Public Service rather than one where politicians can meddle," he said. "The tribunal will determine what matters it could and should take into account."

This comes at a time when most directors in the not-for-profit sector are forgoing any remuneration. An Australian Institute of Company Directors survey released yesterday found non-executive directors were collectively donating almost $100 million of their time to the not-for-profit sector.

Some 89 per cent gave their time on an unpaid basis.

Posted via email from The Left Hack