Stand Together | Public Service Pay Adjustment

Your fellow PSA members need your help. Right now we’re negotiating pay for members at over 20 agencies, and getting the pay rises our members deserve will not be easy. The Government continues to require public service employers to follow their “pay restraint” guidance

Families across the country are facing a cost of living crisis. Now is the time we must stand together and use our collective strength to negotiate a pay increase that takes the cost of living into account and stops people’s pay going backwards.

Stand together with your fellow PSA members and support our Week of Action

Download and put up a poster for your workplace
Ask your organiser or delegate for some Stand Together stickers
Use our Stand Together email signature
Use the Stand Together background on your zoom meetings
Send through a message of support to the teams currently in negotiations so they know that all 83,000 members of the PSA stand with them when they’re at the table.
Friday 28th is Stand Together Day. Wear green to work to show your support. Send your pictures through to us and we will share them on Facebook so everyone can see us supporting Stand Together

Investing in Public Service pay is investing in public services. But the pay of people working in public services has been squeezed for over a decade. We need to stop it falling further behind other sectors.

What about a whole of public sector pay increase?

What about a whole of public sector pay increase?

The PSA alongside the CTU and other state sector unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers across the public and community sectors won agreement with employers to begin negotiations proper for a cost of living pay increase for all union members across the Public Service and Crown agents.

Last week we had our first negotiations session and good progress was made. The next session is on Thursday 4 November.

Increases in the cost of living are affecting everyone and we are seeking a pay increase for everyone. We are clear that progression can not be lumped in with this and that this can’t be traded off against other terms and conditions being negotiated by members in their agencies.

The CTU initiated talks on our behalf four months ago and your support has helped convince employers that this is the right thing to do.

Public sector workers are currently subject to wage restraints that result in a reduction in real terms in people’s pay. This is causing real financial pressure on all public sector workers, and is a real obstacle for employers trying to hire and retain staff in the job market.

We need a settlement that protects union members over the next couple of years from the recent spike in the cost of living. Currently union members have been absorbing price increases that have eroded their pay packets in real terms, and this situation will continue unless there is a fair adjustment.

Given the inflation rate is running at around 12 % over the current two year period, we need a settlement of a 6% + 6% increase over two years given that the Reserve Bank currently record and project inflation at that level.

All workers employed in the public sector are encouraged to stand together and support a public sector pay adjustment.

Unions together

History tells us unions are more successful when we work together. Our campaign for whole of public service cost of living pay increases is an opportunity for union members across the country to move the dial for all public sector workers. The PSPA negotiations could benefit tens, if not hundreds of thousands of workers – many of whom are on extremely low wages.

The unions involved in the PSPA negotiations represent 250,000 union members. By joining with the NZCTU and other unions we unite our efforts to secure a decent pay rise for all.

Tell your non-union colleagues to join the PSA. The more of us there are, the louder our voice will be heard.

Alternative Stand Together resources here

Download Additional Posters

Alternative Zoom background

Email signatures

Stand Together Webinar recordings

Highlights from the Stand Together Fair Pay for Public Sector webinar

Frequently Asked Questions

Rocketing fuel and energy bills, and rising interest rates mean misery for many families.

Everyone who provides a service to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand sees every day the distress and harm the cost-of-living crisis is causing for whānau and communities. Low wages and stressful conditions of work mean staffing shortages in all sectors are making the situation worse. The public service pay restraint, in place since 2020, has only made things worse.

Investing in the pay of people working in the Public Service is investing in public service capability. Public service are an essential part of the infrastructure that supports our economy, families and communities to thrive.

But the pay of people working in public services has been squeezed for over a decade. It cannot be allowed to fall further behind other sectors. Public services are our backbone and support our economy, families and communities to thrive. They are essential.

The public service, like other sectors, is facing skills shortages. With demographic change there are now more workers leaving the workforce than entering it. This is not a short-term problem. As public service pay rates lose value compared to the private sector and other parts of the private sector, problems with recruitment and retention will increase and this will undermine the ability of public services to deliver.

Given the inflation rate is running at around 12 % over the current two year period, we expect a settlement of a 6% + 6% increase over two years.

People’s pay has already been eroded by inflation (which is at its highest in over 32 years) – over 7.3% in the last year. A salary of $70,000 now has the purchasing power of a $65,000 salary.

People working in public services need pay increases that more accurately reflect the total inflationary environment and not just the movement of the price and wage indexes.

Inflation, as measured by the CPI is a useful benchmark but doesn’t tell the full story what’s happening in the real world with cost of living. For example, it doesn’t include the increase in cost of paying a mortgage that has flowed from the Reserve Bank’s rate increases.

The pay of people working in public services has been squeezed for over a decade. The Public Service cannot continue to fall behind with pay rates:

The pay of people working in the Public Service lost real value over the decade from 2008 – 2018 when Public Service pay rates consistently increased much less than in the private sector and the other parts of the public sector.
The disproportionate squeeze on Public Service pay rates went on again with the introduction of the pay restraint guidance, and again the pay of people working in the Public Service is falling further behind.