The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has quietly put the key elements of its bargaining offer to officers and employees, as both the force’s union and its top brass prioritise operational requirements in the wake of the Westfield Bondi mass murder and the declaration of a terrorist incident following the stabbing of a Syrian bishop in Sydney’s southwest.
With ministerial and national security minds sharply focused on understanding how one of the most unexpectedly violent few days in Australia unfolded, it is understood the main elements of a new enterprise agreement for the AFP have now been circulated to staff and officers.
The new deal proposed for AFP members comes against the backdrop of the United Firefighters Union Aviation Branch extracting a deal that equates to a headline pay rise of more than 17% over three years, but does so by using hikes in overtime rates and allowances to technically adhere to the Australian Public Service Commission’s (APSC) 11.2% unofficial service-wide ceiling.
The 11.2% ceiling is derived from the deal struck between the Community and Public Sector Union and the APSC that discounted a higher wage increase claim that started at 20% for the so-called right to flexible work and work from home being written into APS enterprise agreements.
While the flexible work right is functionally useless for many frontline non-APS federal workers like firies, cops and air traffic controllers, organisations like the AFP and Airservices Australia still get stuck with the wage discount, a situation that has triggered industrial action that could potentially heavily disrupt air travel in Australia.
The airport industrial strife is on hold for the time being, but the details of the deals are now flowing.
A commissioner’s update put to AFP members says the force has been negotiating with employees since September 2023 and sticks with the 11.2% base rise but also offers a “one-off cash payment of $871 under the new agreement”.
For those who sign up to stand in harm’s way, a $3,000 per year “use of force allowance” is ostensibly on offer. There’s also reduced tenure requirements for Forensic Accountants and Protective Services Officers that are being sold as a mobility uplift.
Annual leave and mandatory rest days also remain intact, according to communications to staff.
There are some improvements to mandatory progression as well as a 10% improvement in base hourly rates for rostered hours from Monday to Friday between 8pm and 6am, plus a $10,000 rapid-deployment allowance plus some adjustment to superannuation.
It is understood the improvements are indicative, pending a formal offer by the employer, the AFP. The communication to employees is pending a “new agreement currently being drafted” the AFP said to staff.
It is still unclear what the proposed deal levels out at compared to the 11.2% APSC unofficial ceiling or the deal offered to aviation firies.
Watch this space.
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