Police considering protests, ‘work to rule’ over ‘insulting’ pay offer
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Police officers are considering protesting or implementing ‘work to rule’ following an ‘insulting’ pay offer.
After rejecting a 4% pay rise in September, police were presented the same offer on Friday.
The Government says it’s negotiating in “tough economic times”, while insisting it won’t break its promise to recruit more police.
Police officers are considering whether to push for industrial action, after the Government delivered an “insulting” pay offer which many believe is worse than an offer they rejected in September.
The offer, which the Police Association described as “an affront” and “insult” in its letter to officers, has come at a time when Australia is actively marketing to Kiwi cops, offering tens of thousands of dollars more.
Meanwhile, New Zealand police tell Stuff they’re looking to pick up second jobs while dealing with “rock bottom morale” in the force.
The Government and Police Association have been negotiating for about a year. The latest offer was sent to police officers on Friday, but the association was so “insulted” by it that it didn’t even ask officers to vote on it.
Instead, the union asked officers to send general feedback for the Government - which has been scathing - and led to discussions about whether to take industrial action.
It is illegal for police officers to strike, but many are now considering other forms industrial action they can take.
Stuff has heard plans for “work to rule”, where officers will refuse to work overtime and ensure they take all mandated breaks, which could cause havoc in under and low staffed areas.
“If we go ahead with the work to rule, it will be like The Purge,” an officer told Stuff.
The Auckland-based officer said Friday’s offer was “a joke”.
“It’s a total slap in the face. It’s actively worse than the offer last year,” he said.
In September last year, the previous Government offered a $4000 increase, backdated to April 2023, followed a 4% pay rise effective April 2024.
The offer that arrived on Friday offered a $5000 increase to base wages, backdated only to November 2023. That would be followed by 4% pay rises starting July 2025.
Annual inflation was 4.7%.
The latest offer also proposed reducing the leave police could accumulate, taking it down from 45 to 35 days, and removing compensation for officers called in early by up to three hours on late notice.
A second sworn police officer who works as a detective in the North Island, and has spent more than 10 years on the force, said he was angry.
He said officers were disappointed by September’s offer, but to have that same offer return - arguably worse - had turned disappointment into “disillusionment, disenfranchisement and anger”.
He said colleagues were looking to move to Australia as a result of Friday’s offer.
“This offer will push officers over the edge - they’re done, they’re out. They’ll either head to Australia or start looking for other jobs more aggressively,” he said.
“There’s real anger going on here, which isn’t healthy for a police force… Morale is already pretty rock bottom.”
He said that amongst serving police staff there was now talk of refusing to implement the Government’s new crackdown on gang patches or refusing to write parking tickets to curb the Government's revenue.
The Government has also promised to deliver an extra 500 new police officers by 2026.
On Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon insisted they could still deliver on that promise, even as Australian states look to attract Kiwi cops with promises of up to $150,000 per year.
The average first-year officer would earn $67,126 once graduating Police College.
“It’s going to be tough,” Luxon told Stuff.
“But in respect to the negotiations, we won’t be doing that with the media. That’s obviously up to the police to work through.”
It’s understood the Police Association will be making an announcement on Tuesday, delivering its verdict on the “insulting” pay offer.
Labour Party police spokesperson Ginny Andersen, who was the police minister when September’s offer was rejected, said police were rightfully angry about the latest offer.
“The Government is asking police to do more without paying them to do it,” she said.
“National is making a choice to fulfil a political promise for tax cuts rather than pay police.”
A third serving police officer who works as a senior detective in the Eastern district - who Stuff has given the name Paul - said he had been in the job for more than 19 years and was still earning less than $100,000 as his base salary.
“When I read the new offer, honestly I was furious. I was so angry that I was tempted to walk out then and there,” Paul said.
Working in a job that sees him deal with rapists and murderers, Paul said he would leave the job in a “heartbeat” if he didn’t believe in the work he was doing.
He knew at least four other police officers that had been forced to work a second job to make ends meet. He said he’d even heard of an officer in Auckland having to use a food bank.
“It’s ridiculous. The Government knows they have police over a barrel - they know that we can’t strike, so they’re deliberately lowballing us,” he said.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the Government was dealing with 'a tough economic environment“.
He said he couldn’t comment further while negotiations were ongoing.