I have just had a look through SSC’s annual chief executive remuneration tables at 30 June 2014: http://www.ssc.govt.nz/rem-senior-state-sector-staff-to-30june14
As expected and as usual, spectacular salary increases for public sector chiefs, typically of the order 5% to as much as potentially 21% in MBIE’s case, summarised below for selected central government agencies (minimum % increase calculated by dividing the current salary band lower point by the previous years’ upper point; and maximum % increase calculated by dividing the current salary band upper point by the previous years’ lower point):
• CERA: 3.5% to 7.1%
• Corrections: 4.5% to 9.3%
• DIA: 6.2% to 10.6%
• MCH: 5.6% to 11.1%
• MfE: 7.3% to 12.5%
• !!! MBIE: 14.8% to 21.1% !!!
• MFAT: 4.9% to 8.3%
• MoJ: 3.8% to 7.8%
• MSD: 5.4% to 9.1%
• Treasury: 6.6% to 10%
And it would appear DHB CEOs have also enjoyed similarly spectacular salary increases, but I note with lukewarm comfort that TEOs have for a change exercised some restraint with seemingly modest increments. Of course, still orders of magnitude greater than rank and file public servants who for two to three years now have languished under typically 1% annual salary increments, or for the truly brilliant performers perhaps as much as a whopping 2% or so. Whatever, with inflation running at approximately 1.5%+ for each of the last few years, great swathes of public servants have for a few years now endured effective salary DECREASES, after allowing for inflation.
So what is the PSA going to do about this, and when? It is completely unfair, unacceptable, unsustainable and smacks of double standards. Viz., the increasingly obvious and tiresome “belt tightening is for you riff-raff down the bottom, but don’t expect any of that sort of thing from we untouchables at the top” sentiment; not necessarily stated but certainly implied.
Obviously I don’t expect the SSC to do anything about this, but the PSA should. And must. Given the already huge base salaries these outrageously high percentage increases are coming off, the collective extra total salary going into the pockets of NZ’s already ridiculously well rewarded public sector chiefs (you may not be aware of this, but NZ pays its public sector CEOs something of the order TWICE the OECD for public sector chiefs!!!) could fund 5% salary increments for thousands of hard done by public servants.
Please treat this as the very serious and insidious institutionalised issue it is, and advise what the PSA will do to confront the double standard.
For a start, if this information was shared widely and openly with PSA members (AND non-members), I would suggest public servants’ demonstrated unwillingness to engage in industrial action might change rapidly. Just a thought…
