IRD staff get big pay jump

Unionised staff at Inland Revenue are to receive pay rises of up to 17 per cent and improvements to their work conditions over the next three years.

Members of the Public Service Association are celebrating the ratification of a new collective agreement after bargaining began in August.

The new agreement was achieved without a repeat of nationwide strikes which closed

Inland Revenue offices in 2018.

Many staff will get the 17 per cent increase, while others such as those on higher salary rates will receive lesser amounts.

New technology introduced to modernise the tax system is expected to result in about 1500 job losses – about 25 per cent of Inland Revenue’s workforce – between 2018 and 2021, some through attrition.

The PSA represents about 3300 of Inland Revenue’s 5000-strong staff, and PSA national secretary Kerry Davies said the deal would bring in a step-based pay system, aligning it with pay systems ‘‘used by every other major government department’’.

This was instead of staff being individually assessed for a range of different pay rates

Davies said members did consider industrial action if bargaining did not move forward and with that ‘‘a real possibility’’, progress was made.

An extra 700 or so Inland Revenue employees had joined up since August and the result was ‘‘living proof that there is power in numbers’’.

Davies said the department and union had also committed to a separate agreement which would ‘‘provide space’’ for issues to be resolved before legal or industrial conflict.

The PSA continues to pursue an existing legal case against Inland Revenue for using temps from the Madison agency, arguing that they were in effect employed by Inland Revenue and deserved equal pay and conditions.

According to Inland Revenue, its $1.8 billion business transformation project has resulted in $60 million in administrative savings, and brought in $90m in extra revenue, thanks to improved compliance.