Hundreds of ACT nurses and prison guards go on strike

Hundreds of public sector workers have called for better pay during a two-hour strike in Canberra.

Union members from almost every part of the ACT public sector (ACTPS) participated in the action, including hospital, youth and construction workers.

Staff from Canberra's only jail, the Alexander Maconochie Centre, also joined the strike, with correctional officers walking off the job for the very first time.

Standing outside the ACT Legislative Assembly, the public servants made their voices heard in what was the largest coordinated strike since self-government began in the territory in 1989.

The action came in response to the government's pay increase offer of 3 per cent per year over three years. Negotiations related to 16 separate enterprise agreements have been ongoing for more than a year.

The vote against accepting the offer made ACTPS bargaining history. More than 63 per cent of public servants on the core enterprise agreement voted not to accept it.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has been calling for a pay rise of 5 per cent in the first year, followed by 4 per cent the next year, and 3 per cent the year after.

The government's offer included cost-of-living top-up payments in the second and third years, linked to inflation, but unions say those top-up payments are not enough to keep up with the cost of living.

Australia's inflation rate rose more than expected this month, taking annual inflation to 4.3 per cent and raising the expectation the Reserve Bank will hike interest rates next week.

CPSU national secretary Rebecca Fawcett said workers "have had enough" after 12 months of negotiations.

"Workers have voted down the government's pay offer in a historic no vote," she said.

"These workers go above and beyond every day to deliver the services Canberrans rely on. It is high time the ACT government rewarded them with a decent pay offer.

"We are coming together — ACT public sector workers in health, administration and corrections, and members from across the union movement — to say with one voice to the Barr government: do better.

"It's time for the Barr government to stop dragging this bargaining campaign out."

CPSU regional secretary Maddy Northam said ACT public sector workers, from Canberra Hospital to HousingACT, had been "pushed to the limit".

"Public sector workers across the territory … are sending a crystal-clear message to the Barr Labor Government: your pay offer is not good enough," she said.

Ms Northam said CPSU members "simply want fair pay for a fair day's work".

"When you are out there day in, day out protecting, supporting and, at times, nurturing Territorians, the very least this government can do is pay you properly," she said.

ACT Public Service Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the government's priority was getting pay rises and back pay to public service workers "as quickly as possible".

"We have made a pay offer that is above projected inflation over the next three years," she said.

"Recognising that there is ongoing uncertainty about that inflation though, our pay offer would see additional payments in 2027 and 2028, should inflation exceed certain thresholds."

Ms Stephen-Smith said the government supported the right of its public servants to seek better pay and conditions by taking industrial action.

"The budget itself is experiencing additional pressure as a result of higher rates of inflation and interest.

"So this about negotiating a fair offer for our highly valued public servants."

The strike is the second recent industrial action taken by public sector workers in the territory, with ACT public school staff stopping work last month, also as a result of enterprise agreement negotiations.

Ms Northam said further industrial action is likely if the government does not come to the table with a better pay offer.

"They will take more industrial action, and it won't be two hours next time, it will be more."