Workers at the Federal Court of Australia will not accept a wage rise of about half that offered at other departments.

A 90 per cent majority of court staff have rejected a proposed new enterprise agreement that offered an average 1 per cent for three years, combined with cuts to conditions and entitlements and a longer working week for some.

The proposal is just half of the two per cent payrise that the Defence Department, the Australian Taxation Office the Agriculture Department, the CSIRO and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet have accepted.

Community and Public Sector Union Secretary Melissa Donnelly slammed the outcome.

“This is a disaster for Courts bosses and it's now time for them to wake up and start treating their hard-working staff with respect,” she told Fairfax reporters.

“This proposal was an absolute insult to staff, epitomised by the fact they were offering just half the meagre pay rise allowed by the Commonwealth bargaining policy.

“There were also a raft of harsh cuts to rights and conditions around things like consultation.

“We've had a run of Yes votes in other agencies in recent weeks – including Tax, Defence, Agriculture, CSIRO and Prime Minister and Cabinet – because they've done what they could on pay while recognising the core issue for staff is protecting hard-fought rights and conditions.”

“Courts bosses need to look around and see what's working in these other agencies.

“This result makes it abundantly clear that they can't just ride on the coat-tails of successful ballots elsewhere when what they're pushing on staff is so out-of-step with what's even halfway reasonable.”