Police warn of growing frustration heading into pay talks

WELLINGTON: Police are beginning to press their claims for better pay and conditions, and negotiations between their union and their bosses begin this week.

Among the issues concerning frontline officers are recruitment, retention and pay.

The Police Association has warned its members in its monthly magazine Police News that there could be some ‘‘torrid negotiations’’ ahead which it says it is wellprepared for.

The negotiations come at a time marked by industrial action in the public sector. Nurses have already been on strike, primary school teachers will strike next month, ACC senior doctors walked off the job this week, and MBIE and IRD staff have been on strike.

Legally, police cannot go on strike but Police Association president Chris Cahill warned Police Minister Stuart Nash that frustration may materialise in more staff leaving the force.

The Coalition Government has promised 1800 new frontline officers over three years but police say recruitment will not cover the ‘‘churn rate’’ of police leaving the force.

‘‘What this Government must realise is that there’s significant pentup frustration in the public sector and generally around the lack of resources, which in our case the Government’s met, but also pay,’’ Mr Cahill said.

‘‘We make the point that they are two different issues. You can’t say ‘yeah we’ll give you all the resources but you’re not getting a pay rise’ because all that will result in is an ability to recruit the new staff and an inability to retain the ones that are there, and that’s equally important.

‘‘The really clear message is the pressures [Mr Nash] is seeing coming from other public sectors are repeated within police and there is an expectation that they’ll be listened to. If he wants to get those 1800 extra officers out there, he’s got to make sure they retain the ones they’ve got as well or you’ll just be replacing what’s leaving and you won’t be getting ahead.’’

Officers have complained that police pay is sliding backwards compared with other professions. One estimated in Police News that an increase of at least 15% to 20% for constables was required.

At present, a new police con stable’s base annual salary is $56,106. The average salary is around $67,078.

The officer said a constable’s salary was ‘‘ridiculous’’.

‘‘They work shifts [mostly], deal with the shitty side of life and get little reward.

‘‘I note nurses and teachers have closed the gap over the years [because they fight] and in most cases have overtaken a constable’s salary.

‘‘I remember when nurses and teachers were about 70% of an equivalent service constable, but not now.’’

The Police Association says ‘‘everything will be in the mix’’ during this negotiation round, from the difficulties of living and working in Auckland to rosters, paid overtime and recruitment in a competitive market with low unemployment.

‘‘Members need to be patient and see what those issues are that we disagree on and hopefully we agree on more. And at this stage we can hardly come out complaining when we haven’t actually had an offer from police,’’ Mr Cahill said.

The Police Association represents about 8900 sworn officers, about 99% of the total, and 3500 nonsworn staff, about 73%.

Negotiations were due to start last month but have been delayed while the police managers’ collective moved to final offer final arbitration.

Arbitration binding on both sides is the means by which negotiations are settled if they are unable to reach agreement.

‘‘In the end, we do have final offer arbitration to fall back on. Noone wants to get to a point where their argument’s shown to be wrong, so we have to structure good, soundbased arguments,’’ Mr Cahill said.

‘‘We accept totally that the Government has come to the party on the resourcing side of things but it’s not a closed argument, there’s two sides to it.

‘‘We understand the Government’s got a big pool of resources to have to look after, but in saying that, we’re also nervous that they think that because they’ve given us those resources that they don’t have to follow that up and that simply isn’t the case.

‘‘The resources won’t follow if you don’t pay people appropriately.’’

Mr Nash, who has to stay at arm’s length from negotiations, said he was sure they would be robust.

‘‘We gave a very generous amount to police in the last Budget.

‘‘It included $300 million in new operating funding and $18 million in new capital funding.

‘‘That will support the recruitment, training and deployment of an extra 1800 officers and 485 support staff,’’ he said in a statement.

❛ I note nurses and teachers have closed the gap over the years [because they fight] and in most cases have

overtaken a constable’s salary.