Campbell: Fair pay not to be feared

The Government’s public sector pay freeze probably won’t ‘‘stick’’, but its plan for fair-pay agreements is welcome, says Rob Campbell, a prominent professional director and former unionist.

Last week, the Government announced it would extend public sector ‘‘pay restraint’’ measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic for another three years in a bid to keep public debt low.

The advice means no-one earning more than $100,000 a year should get an increase, and those earning more than $60,000 a year should only be given an increase under exceptional circumstances.

‘‘I cut my teeth as a union advocate decades ago fighting the Muldoon pay freezes,’’ Campbell said.

‘‘It usually turns out that they struggle to stick in the face of market reality and organised opposition. My guess is that this will happen again.’’

Campbell said he expects pay escalation in the lower-paid part of the state sector workforce, which isn’t affected by the freeze, to be driven by pay equity and by the need to recruit skills. Higher-level salaries, where the freeze is really aimed, will largely stick for a couple of years at least, he said.

Campbell said the more substantial move was the Government’s plan for fair pay agreement legislation, also announced last week. The agreements would set out minimum pay and conditions across an entire sector.

The changes stem from a report that came out of a working group led by Jim Bolger, a former National Party prime minister whose law changes in the early 1990s decimated union membership and collective bargaining.

‘‘Good on him for recognising what has not worked,’’ Campbell said. ‘‘It turned out that all the employers who promised that a new era of flexible work and pay arrangements without union involvement would boost productivity and living standards were either lying or fooling themselves and others. It has not happened.

‘‘And while low pay, precarious contracts, and work stress cannot be entirely laid at the feet of limited unionisation and collective bargaining, the ‘freedom’ has worked one way.’’

Campbell said some business organisations had been scaremongering about the return of the bad old days of union domination.

‘‘I will be telling the companies with which I am involved that the real issues we face are not fear of worker unions unless we deserve to be fearful,’’ Campbell said.

‘‘We should continue to focus on working conditions and pay which realistically reflect the markets in which we work, which are internally fair, and which encourage people to enjoy and grow in their work. We have plenty to do, and if there are unions . . . on that journey, they are welcome participants.’’