Source: Radio New Zealand
“Offering us 0.6 percent is just frankly disgusting,” says one officer. File photo. RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Some police officers say they are beginning unlawful industrial action – such as a go slow on issuing traffic tickets – following a 0.6 percent pay rise labelled a “kick in the guts”.
The Police Association says while there have been “murmurings”, it wants to remind members that any form of industrial action is “unlawful”.
“What we don’t want to see is members put themselves at unnecessary risk of breaching the law, and we cannot condone any activity that might be construed as industrial action outside of that which is legally permitted.”
The association emailed members last week about collective negotiations with police in relation to both constabulary staff and police managers.
It had asked for a 12-month collective agreement that included a general wage increase that exceeded cost of living increases at 5 percent.
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However, police had offered a general wage increase of 0.6 percent with competency service increments (CSIs) bringing the offer up to 2 percent. Staff are required to meet the required certifications, standards and competency for their role to get their CSI. The association and police are at odds over whether the annual CSIs should be included as part of a pay offer.
Managers – who number almost 900 – would get no pay rise.
RNZ has spoken to several police officers across the country, under the condition of anonymity, about what the association says is effectively a 0.6 percent pay rise.
A senior police officer told RNZ staff “will take informal action and have started”.
Colleagues had said they were reducing their usual work rate of issuing tickets, and not making themselves available after hours by having their phones off. They were also being “vigilant” when it comes to claiming entitlements.
Another said for managers to be offered 0 percent “after working hard year after year is a kick in the guts”.
“Regardless of rank, we’ve all been hit by rising living costs.”
A third said they felt they were being offered a pay cut.
“Staff were expecting to at least be offered a pay rise to catch up with inflation. Australia looks better by the day.”
An officer who has been in the job for eight years also spoke of their unhappiness.
“I’ve given eight years of my life to police. That’s eight years of mental trauma, physical injury, absent social life, and stress on my relationship.
“Offering us 0.6 percent is just frankly disgusting. I believe the government takes us for granted at the moment. I would love to see them squirm and panic if we didn’t show up to work one day.”
Yet another said the reality was the pay offer will not be good enough.
“We all know it. It requires the government to front with money to support the payroll… The issue is we would need to stop service delivery to effect any decent payrise. If the government values police outcomes, they would act.”
RNZ read each of the responses to Police Association president Steve Watt.
He referred to the association’s pay bargaining campaign, “Repay the Risk”, and said there were a “number of actions” members could take part in that were legal.
“What we don’t want to see is members put themselves at unnecessary risk of breaching the law, and we cannot condone any activity that might be construed as industrial action outside of that which is legally permitted,” he said.
“We understand that staff are justifiably gutted at the offer that’s been presented to them. There’s always murmurings around actions that can be taken. But what we need to remind our members is that any form of industrial action is unlawful, and we encourage them to engage with the campaign activities that we’ve set about as lawful activities that they can participate in.”
Asked if the association had heard about staff undertaking industrial action, Watt said: “There’s a number of murmuring on social media feeds that come from various different sources”.
He said the offer had been a “big hit to the morale”.
“Our members are gutted with the initial offer, but we are going to be continuing to work constructively with Police in order to get an offer that is representative of the hard work that our members do and the risks they face.”
Watt said Australian jurisdictions were paying “significantly higher” than New Zealand.
“Our officers are seen as absolutely top notch, and it’s no surprise that Australia want to try and poach our officers to go overseas. It’s not a question of, can we afford to pay our officers the same here. It’s actually a question of, can we afford not to.”
NZ Police chief people officer Leigh MacDonald told RNZ the bargaining process was ongoing.
“But due to the statutory process around formal negotiations, by law, we are not permitted to comment further.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/20/police-start-taking-informal-action-after-0-6-percent-pay-rise/