Statistics New Zealand’s Quarterly Employment Survey and Labour Cost Index show that people working in education and training are receiving lower pay increases than average.  The Labour Cost Index shows that pay rose 1.6 percent for workers overall during the year to September.  But in the public education and training sector salaries rose only 1 percent, while those in the private education and training sector rose 1.3 percent. Inflation is running at 1.5 per cent. (Of course, this was not the case for vice-chancellors and chief executives at polytechnics and wānanga.)

Those employers who gave pay increases of between 2 and 5 percent, continued to say when surveyed that the main reason for their higher offers was the existence of a collective employment agreement.

National Distribution Union general secretary Robert Reid concurs, saying workers who are in unions are winning wage increases in excess of the national average.

“There is a big gap between the national average and the union negotiated average – Victoria University’s recent employment survey showed wages increased by 4.2 percent in the past year for workers negotiating collectively.”

“Workers not in unions will find their wages are in fact going backwards, as they struggle to keep up with inflation. It is clear that it pays to be in a union,” he said.

Peter Conway, CTU Secretary said: “With inflation set to exceed 4 percent next year as the GST rise takes effect, there will be more pressure from workers for fair wage increases. The situation is made worse by the fact that the bulk of the tax cuts have gone to those on high incomes.”

“It is time for some better processes to attempt this major task of catching up with Australian wages. The Government has an aim of this being achieved in 2025. That is more than five general elections away. Surely we need some milestones along the way?”