Leading Australian scientists are considering strike action after pay talks with the CSIRO executive stalled.
CSIRO Staff Association Secretary Sam Popovski said the executive had refused to budge on an offer of a three per cent pay rise over the next three to four years.
Staff at the national science and research centre are seeking an extra four to six per cent.
Mr Popovski said after intense negotiations, which started in July, some agreements had been struck but the issue of pay and some conditions remained.
"It's time for the executive to stop posturing and start negotiating constructively with unions to deliver a better outcome for staff and the organisation," he said.
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Fair Work Australia has approved applications by the staff association and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union to conduct protected action ballots.
If the ballot is endorsed by CSIRO workers they will have the right to ban and limit a number of administrative functions and strike for up to 24 hours.
"Moving towards industrial action is not a step we take lightly," Mr Popovski said.
CSIRO staff would be denied any input into major organisational, funding and staffing decisions before they are made under the executive's proposal, the association claims.
"That's not a position that our members can accept," Mr Popovski said.
"Management's proposal flies in the face of the open and innovative culture that CSIRO's leadership purports to encourage."
Mr Popovski said the ballot process would take three weeks and strike action would not take place until late this month or early March, if it was supported.
A CSIRO spokesman said the executive had offered a fair and responsible package, with a lot of positives to staff, reaching a consensus on a number of issues.
"However the union continues to argue their remaining original claims including higher pay," the spokesman said.
"We recognise that legislation provides for such a course of action, however the approach by the unions to focus and direct resources into industrial disputation will not, in our view, assist in the timely finalisation of a new enterprise agreement."
