APS flexible work mandate needs vote to become a reality: Riordan details road ahead after union agreement

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The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) has started setting out what its historic agreement to flexible work as a workplace right could soon look like, but has issued a thinly-veiled ultimatum to members of the Community and Public Sector Union they will first need to vote up a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) to make the deal a reality.

The APSC’s latest bargaining update reveals the government’s bargaining agent is firming its line after making the key concession, a potential curtain-raiser to minister for the public service Katy Gallagher playing hardball on cash pay rises to offset the deal.

“We are still bargaining over 90 common conditions. The proposed flexible work position is not yet final and will not come into effect until: all negotiations are completed both at the service-wide and agency-level; your enterprise agreement commences operation,” the APSC told public servants.

“You also still need to vote on your agency’s proposed enterprise agreement. This vote is organised through your agency after agency-level bargaining is complete.”

The commonwealth’s bargaining agent is also emphasising that once a deal is done, it’s final.

“Your proposed enterprise agreement will include pay and common conditions negotiated during APS-wide bargaining,” The APSC said. “Conditions subject to negotiation during APS-wide bargaining will not be re-opened during agency‑level bargaining.”

There is also specific advice for managers on how to prepare for the new flexible work mandate, including getting ready to run a ruler over workplace policies to make sure they comply.

“Some [policies] may need to change, such as removing work-from-home caps for groups of employees,” APSC advice noted, saying that “Managers will also need to consider a few core things when reviewing requests for flexible work arrangements.”

These include:

• How to best accommodate the request.
• The individual request on its merits.
• The reason you have provided for requesting a flexible work arrangement.
• If the arrangement can be facilitated within reasonable business requirements of your agency, and if not, what alternatives might be possible.
• That flexibility is available in all roles, but different types of flexibility could be facilitated in different roles or circumstances. If you work in a customer facing service centre, it may not be possible to work from home based on reasonable business requirements. But your manager could consider other flexible arrangements, such as job-sharing, compressed hours or something similar.
• If you are a First Nations employee and requesting a change in location of work, consider your connection to country and cultural obligations.

There are a number of likely reasons for the firmer tone from the APSC. The first is that the CPSU scored a significant tactical win by getting flexible work treated as a right rather than a concession, meaning it will be harder to bargain when the rubber hits the road on pay.

The CPSU has gone for a 20% pay rise, while the APSC has responded with a 10.5% offer leaving a lot of ground to cover. Industrial politics aside, the flexible working mandate is actually as much of a win for public service bosses as its workers because it will hugely expand the range of locations public servants can work from and, in all probability, increase productivity at the same time.

The increase in the size of the labour pool is likely to be counter-inflationary mid to long term because workers will not need to be concentrated in higher price metropolitan locations.

Working from remote locations is also looking decidedly more feasible over the last few weeks with both Optus and Telstra following Vocus’ lead to offer the high-speed Starlink satellite product to their customers across Australia, opening-up access for many marginalised communities.

Mind you, not everyone is cheering.

The APSC’s tougher line comes as sections of the business community continue overtly oppose flexible work as an industrially codified employee right, with banks now publicly divided over how it should be applied.

While the National Australia Bank has written flexible work into its latest EBA, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank Matt Comyn again on Monday defended his decision to force workers back to the office for at least 50% of their working time, describing Financial Sector Union’s dispute with CBA brand BankWest under the EBA as “semantic”.

The CBA’s order is effective as of today.

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APS bargaining is more than just improvements to flexible working and WFH