Government wins pay dispute with police: National Party 1, Police 0, Public -1

Written By: - Date published: 3:53 pm, July 15th, 2024 - 25 comments
Categories: crime, law and "order", national, police - Tags: , ,

Cross posted from Mountain Tui‘s substack post.

What happened?

Media is reporting that police have lost their pay dispute with the Coalition Government.

Some of you might remember that the police rejected Labour’s previous offer in September, 2023, possibly looking forward to be taken care of by the self-touted ‘Party of Law and Order’ – National Party.

If you look at the numbers though, Labour had been able to re-grow police force ranks from 1 for every 544 New Zealanders under John Key, to 1 to every 480 New Zealanders in 2023.

1800 additional frontline police were added over two terms of government.

For their pay offer, Labour had offered police a $4000 increase to base salaries backdated to April 3, and a 4% increase in salary from April 2025.

At the time, the Police Association received 7893 votes, with 67% of officers voting to reject the offer.

In March 2024, National made their pay offer.

It was effectively lower than the Public Service Pay adjustment from the last Government.

Officers reported feeling abandoned. It clearly took them by surprise with Association president Chris Cahill calling it “a kick in the guts”, “insulting” and “demoralising.”

Cahill also called out the National Government, saying the offer didn’t back up their lofty plans for law and order. The offer was flatly rejected.

A second offer from National in April 2024 was rejected by more than 75% of Police Association members.

The matter went to arbitration and the police today lost – which means they have to accept whatever offer the Government put on the table.

What is at stake?

Besides the matters of human dignity and living costs, there are other risks.

The latest police newsletter, before the arbitrator made their decision, included tips and tricks for police to find side hustles to earn extra income.

Police have reported going to WINZ and being told to go to food banks. But the Coalition Government has also cut funding for food banks, budgeting services, and warmer homes for Kiwis in their latest budget.

Photos of collection baskets around police stations have made the rounds, and in Canterbury, water coolers were removed from stations as part of the government cost cutting drive.

Australia is offering huge bonuses and better pay structures for police. In March there were already 250 vacancies in our police, and Australia are luring more with $20,000 cash bonuses.

In one week in May, police lost 20 officers this way.

The most obvious risk is losing experienced police overseas. Policing is a profession, and you only have to look at the United States, to realise how important it is that there are decent, moral and professional cops on the beat.

There’s a risk of corrupt practices seeping into the police force, which is an insipid, dangerous practice.

The third risk is we have people who aren’t well trained or experienced to do a good job. The force is not a place where you just find people off the street, or lower recruitment or training standards, in order to fill the ranks. Experience is important, but so are soft skills like de-escalation, conflict resolution, problem solving, creativity and integrity.

Other risks include a demoralized work force, already under stress and under capacity.

All these lead to the ultimate point that enforcing law and order in a professional, responsible way requires cops who want to do their job, and do it well.

Besides the stress on cops and their families, the government will need to look at ways to bolster morale, and help officers feel like they weren’t losers in this process – or we might all pay the price.

25 comments on “Government wins pay dispute with police: National Party 1, Police 0, Public -1 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Georgecom 1
    15 July 2024 at 7:13 pm

    To paraphrase a John Key billboard from a few years ago

    Wave goodbye to cops leaving for Queensland, not high crime rates

  2. lprent 2
    15 July 2024 at 8:48 pm

    It must or will feel like pyrrhic victory for National. Effectively they have piled on more work by effectively reduced the front-line staff. By disestablishing non-sworn support staff, someone has to do that work. That will be the sworn officers taking time away from the duties that they are employed to do, for a wage that isn't even covering the inflation over the past two years.

    Good luck trying to retain and recruit… Being police is a shit of a job already. Over time this will just retain the worst and lose the best amongst them.

    I'd anticipate that this government will move to remove the significiant stats in an effort to make the effects of this screwup harder to see. It is the classic way of claiming silly restructuring by incompetent managers.

    • Mountain Tui 2.1
      15 July 2024 at 9:22 pm

      “Over time this will just retain the worst and lose the best amongst them.”
      Yes, and this type of performance loss has long term consequences for police culture & standards, so pretty important stuff.

      Re: removing significant stats. One thing they did in April was scrap a key survey gathering key child poverty data

    • tc 2.2
      16 July 2024 at 8:31 am

      Good points lprent. Wonder how minister Mitchell is going to deal with this ?

      • lprent 2.2.1
        16 July 2024 at 9:44 am

        Like he does with everything I have seen him involved in. Badly, without competence (LIS in particular), and with a high degree in political stupidity (ie his cooperation and probably payments to Lusk/Slater). Plus he is the foremost advocate of “boot camps” which is a idiotic populist stance and a complete waste of time. Like Mitchell himself.

        Fortunately, Minister of Police is a proforma political role because of the separation of operational control. But he can do real damage in emergency from stupid grandstanding in Emergency Response when we have the next major event.

        I’m more interested in how Andrew Coster handles the fallout from this long and protracted wage round. The effective salaries for police in the main urband areas, especially Auckland.

        If you look at the remuneration rates for police after the last offer and consider the current Auckland accommodation costs, it simply isn’t viable. You’d probably spend half the nett salary on accommodation if you have a family with young kids and a single income to raise them.

        One thing that you have to have with police is ties into their community. You don’t get that as easily when younger police can’t afford to settle in the cities.

  3. Rodel 3
    15 July 2024 at 8:56 pm

    Whoever you are Mountain Tui you write well and have an intelligent grasp of the issues you write about.Thank you.

  4. adam 4
    15 July 2024 at 9:58 pm

    I say leave, if your police and you get a better offer, with better prospects for you and your family – take the offers from across the ditch.

    We really do have a mad, bent, twisted set of ideologues in power.

    What the bet police will be blamed if anything goes wrong, not the politicians who are hell bent on rapid reinstatement of failed economic policies.

  5. feijoa 5
    16 July 2024 at 2:22 pm

    More madness from the COC

    You'd think a party with such fundamentals as law and order and property rights would see the need for a healthy robust police force.

    Almost makes one wonder if they WANT it to become corrupt. What other explanation is there?

    • Mountain Tui 5.1
      17 July 2024 at 11:54 am

      In reviewing their policies, I believe most of them are antithetical to their "stated" aims. I am starting to think they don't believe what they say, and are working more for donor interests. How else could one explain an easy $3bn to landlords, ~$70bn for road, $4bn for potholes while they actively try to tank rail enabled ferries (which would add more trucks to create more potholes)

      Also incarceration is very very expensive and the initial bootcamp will cost about $500,000 per youth. And those elements merely harden criminals.

      A lot of this is a like a fireworks show – a lot of oomph – but after, who is going to clean up the real mess?

      • roblogic 5.1.1
        18 July 2024 at 4:52 pm

        Absolutely they speak with forked tongue. None more so than David Seymour. They claim to be doing positive things for society but the actual outcomes of their policies rip up the social contract and enrich the top 1% at the expense of everyone else.

  6. Maurice 6
    16 July 2024 at 5:01 pm

    Was it not fundamental Leftist policy to remove funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources?

    Or is it different when the right do it?

    The other problem is that Teachers and Health Workers have just had a largish increase to create parity with Police. There would be a demand from them for MORE too.

    There is not enough money!

    • Macro 6.1
      16 July 2024 at 5:06 pm

      forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources?…

      is it different when the right do it?

      And what planet are you living on?

      • Maurice 6.1.1
        16 July 2024 at 5:27 pm

        “And what planet are you living on?”

        The other one …. where the Lizard People come from!

      • thinker 6.1.2
        17 July 2024 at 6:57 am

        Planet Key Luxon

        • Maurice 6.1.2.1
          17 July 2024 at 11:21 am

          Nope – that is a completely different planet – the one where all the wealthy people hang out … to avoid taxation.

    • Mountain Tui 6.2
      17 July 2024 at 11:52 am

      I think the numbers show that under Labour, police were funded by 40-50% more than under John Key, so ….

    • roblogic 6.3
      17 July 2024 at 2:31 pm

      It is the current government that is destroying social services, cutting funds to food banks, pissing off the Police so much that they are all leaving for Australia.

      There is 'not enough money' because Nicola Willis gave massive tax cuts to the rich and the landlord class.

      Check your facts

      • Maurice 6.3.1
        17 July 2024 at 4:42 pm

        The "massive tax cuts to the rich and the landlord class" were simply the return to the standard tax regimen. The interest deductibility rule relates to the mortgage interest rates on investors' rental properties. If someone owns a rental property that has a mortgage on it, the interest they pay on that mortgage can be deducted from their rental income when it's time to calculate their taxes. That had been clawed away from them by the previous Government to "nudge" them into buying new houses rather than existing ones for rentals. It was a campaign promise to their voting demographic (some say a silly one) however is was a return to the previous long standing status quo of business tax deductions under which many of the investment were made.

        • roblogic 6.3.1.1
          17 July 2024 at 5:17 pm

          I've heard this status quo argument so many times. Doesn't make it ethical, or a good direction for encouraging capital flows, or a positive for the housing industry, or net helpful to renters and home buyers. It simply reinforces everything that's wrong with housing and inequality in Aotearoa

          Labour's little tinkering of negative gearing was minor compared to the fundamental tax reforms we really need, per the Tax Working Group. But NACT1 and the landlord class are pretending it is some kind of class war.

          It’s not ‘just another business cost’ because being a landlord is not a standard business, it is literally the nexus of pain and suffering in Aotearoa. Why do landlords get to offset certain costs against tax but nobody else who lives in a house gets to do that.

          • Maurice 6.3.1.1.1
            18 July 2024 at 12:05 am

            Why do landlords get to offset certain costs against tax but nobody else who lives in a house gets to do that.

            Because landlords do not live in the house – they rent it (out of the goodness of their hearts /s) after going in to debt to buy it and run it as a business. Some simply exited that market when the interest deductibility was removed and it became a less profitable proposition.

            • Mountain Tui 6.3.1.1.1.1
              18 July 2024 at 12:30 am

              There does appear to be a sense of entitlement from landlords in this country that feel that they deserve to be supported in their speculative endeavours.

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