The PSA believes the State Government has failed to make an offer that we are willing to put to members. Therefore, we requested that the IRC progress from Conciliation to formal Arbitration and a hearing of our claim.

Recent cost of living pressures, plus several years where your wages went backwards under the previous government, leave the PSA no other option but to demand the IRC rule for a minimum 5.2 per cent pay rise, exclusive of the mandated superannuation increase, for NSW Public Sector workers.

The return of this decision-making power on your wages to an independent umpire, namely the IRC, was a major reason the PSA campaigned to remove the previous State Government. The role of an independent umpire and the removal of the former government’s unfair wages cap means the PSA can run a case based on fairness, without the State Government dictating its own terms.

The IRC’s Vice-President Chin has recommended the parties negotiate an interim increase for members based off the Government’s offer of 3.5 per cent for this year, as this is in accordance with the State Government’s wages policy.

As a matter of urgency, the PSA will meet with the Government to discuss this recommendation. Given the cost-of-living pressures faced by many members throughout NSW, the PSA will press the Government to make an interim payment to members.

When the final decision is handed down by the IRC, it will be fully backdated to the first full pay period after 1 July 2024, and will include the full amount won by the PSA.

Rest assured, the PSA’s fight for fair pay for members continues.

The PSA will be back in the IRC on Wednesday 21 August 2024, when we hope to set the dates for Arbitration, and we will contact members again after that time.