A win would be handy for Michaelia Cash and offsider John Lloyd right now.

On Monday at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, the Employment Minister and Public Service Commissioner couldn't even get close, despite departmental boss Mike Pezzullo, not known for his subtlety, throwing the kitchen sink at the campaign to convince his restive workforce to accept a new enterprise agreement.

If the Fair Work Commission orders a settlement with terms outside the Coalition's tough rules, then the whole public sector bargaining framework could be fatally undermined. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The failure, with a whopping no-vote of 82 per cent, means there will be compulsory arbitration at the Fair Work Commission.

It's the outcome Pezzullo was desperate to avoid and the department's decision to call in the industrial umpire in the first place to put the kybosh on airport strikes does not look smart after all.