Hundreds of scientists from CSIRO and other government agencies will begin walking off the job next Thursday as part of public sector-wide industrial action.

Work bans at the national research agency started in April after months of stalled negotiations over a new industrial agreement.

CSIRO is one of 16 public sector organisations and departments locked in a dispute over pay and conditions under the Abbott government’s public-sector bargaining policy, which prohibits wage increases unless they are traded for conditions or productivity increases.

Scientists and researchers from the Bureau of Meteorology, the Department of Environment, the Australian Antarctic Division, Geoscience Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics will also down tools.

Sam Popovski, the secretary of the CSIRO Staff Association, said the rolling, four-hour stoppages, starting on Thursday in Sydney, Darwin and Perth, represented “the biggest campaign of industrial action in CSIRO’s history”.

“CSIRO management’s proposed cuts include slashing redundancy by up to eight weeks of paid entitlements, cutting income maintenance and retention provisions, an increase in total working hours, shortening or removing the annual shut down, cancelling an additional day of Christmas leave and increasing the difficulty of salary progression,” he said.

Nearly $115m was cut from the agency’s funding in the 2014 federal budget, and job losses in the past two years have amounted to one-fifth of its staff – with scientists and researchers bearing the brunt.



There are fears up to another 200 jobs could be lost between CSIRO and National ICT Australia (Nicta) if the two organisations merge, as is forecast. Nicta, which employs 617 people, was defunded in last year’s federal budget and will run out of money in June 2016.

A spokesman for CSIRO said the agency had anticipated the industrial action and put “contingencies in place to ensure the vital work done by CSIRO continues with minimum disruption and also that the health and safety of staff is not compromised at any time”.

“CSIRO will continue to negotiate with staff and bargaining representatives to deliver the best possible pay and conditions in the current environment and we will work hard to put the best possible offer on the table,” he said.