A group of federal public servants have had their wages frozen for nearly three-and-half years while they waited for their bosses to make an offer on wages and conditions.
The 240 workers at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority have voted to reject a proposed new enterprise agreement this week after waiting for an offer since July 2014, when their old deal expired.
Their last general pay rise was in July 2013 and the Coalition government's public service industrial relations policy bans back pay, meaning the reef workers have had their pay frozen for three-and-a-half years.
The main workplace union is furious about the delay and the authority itself acknowledged the "considerable time" since its employees' last pay rise, but said there had been "significant staff consultation".
Authority Chairman Russell Reichelt told his workers on Tuesday morning that they had rejected the long-awaited proposal in a workplace ballot by an emphatic 64 to 36 per cent.
The Community and Public Sector Union was not happy about the two-and-a-half year delay to getting a proposal out to a vote, or at the deal that was finally offered.
"Marine Park Authority staff have waited a long, long time to have their say on the government's dodgy bargaining policy, and they've sent a strong message that they won't accept having their rights and conditions stripped or a sub-standard pay offer," union official Beth Vincent-Pietsch said.
"Management ran an aggressive campaign trying to convince staff to accept a dodgy agreement that would have stripped away key rights and conditions that help make the authority a productive and good place to work."
But an authority spokeswoman painted a different picture, saying the talks had focused on "understanding and balancing".
"Bargaining a new enterprise agreement with staff and their representatives focussed on understanding and balancing issues raised by staff and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's operating environment and included significant staff consultation," the spokeswoman said.
"There has been considerable time since the last general pay increase – it's hoped a future enterprise agreement will address this and other matters.
"The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will now work through options to develop and consult on a new agreement."
