Policemen lose more than they gain

Press, 12 April 1980, Page 2

Policemen lose more than they gain

PA Wellington Policemen throughout New Zealand may have lost more than they gained as a result of the recent 10.4 per cent wage rise for State servants.

The secretary of the Police Association (Dr R. A. Moodie) said yesterday his members had lost up to $2OOO each because of a pre-condition set by the Government on acceptance of the pay package. Dr Moodie said policemen were upset and their language in their telegrams and telephone calls was certainly unfit to print. Last week, the Government offered New Zealand’s 170,000 white-collar Public Servants a 10.4 per cent pay rise back-dated to November. The Minister of State Services (Mr Thompson) said it had to be accepted by all members of the Combined State Unions, as .well as by the Police Association and Police Officers’ Guild. He also imposed two conditions. First, the meat inspectors’ dispute at the Whakatu Freezing works had to be settled. Second, all wage claims lodged with the State Services Commission by individual groups within the State

services had to be settled by April 3, or dropped altogether, ■ -T ’ -The ’ Police Association’s, pehaL/fates’ and overtime claim which- h'ad , been under consideration, and negotiation, was' a casualtyof this .condition, Dr Mobdie said/ “In .1977,’ the police applied to have their penal rate and overtime elements on police salaries adjusted. The formula which pays overtime and penal rates to the police on a percentage loading of their salary was set in 1966, with minimal adjustments in 1970.” 5 It was that claim which ■was nearing completion and had had- to be scuttled. The association was in no position to finalise it before last Thursday, Dr Moodie said. It had been working to a deadline of July or August. The more usual time for State service annual adjustments and the agreement would have been settled on a formula backdated to last November or December. Because their claim could not now be considered again until the next wage round in November, Dr Moodie said police officers would have lost a year’s overtime and penal rates, which in some cases

could be as much as . $2OOO. / , ssked why. the' Ppiice Association j had 7 not held out against acceptance: of thp : package, <Dr Moodie Said it had no real choice.

The Government had saiiF’that if it was hot acceptable to all parties,, no-one .would get it. He said he believed the result of the package, which brought Public Servants’ wage adjustments to the : beginning, instead of the end of the year, was the only equitable method of pay-fixing, particularly in the light of the inflation level. “But the cost to us is probablv higher than to anv other group,” Dr Moodie said. The association would now continue to press its claim with the State Services Commission, and it was likely to come into effect at the time of the next State services pay adjustment in November. There would be no backdating from that settlement. j The percentage loading for overtime on police salaries was 23.5 per cent. For traffic officers, in comparison, it was 32.5 per cent for penal time alone, with overtime pay on top of that, Dr Moodie . said.