NZQA staff to rally over ongoing pay dispute

Staff at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority have voted to take low level industrial action over their on-going pay dispute and will be holding a lunchtime rally tomorrow (March 5) to highlight their concerns.

The PSA, which represents over 230 staff, has been in collective agreement negotiations with NZQA but talks have stalled.

PSA Assistant Secretary Jeff Osborne says staff are frustrated by NZQA’s refusal to negotiate pay as part of the collective bargaining process.

“NZQA is taking a heavy-handed approach by wanting to retain an outdated and complicated pay system on staff, rather than attempting to negotiate fairly. We want a more simple pay system which staff have confidence in and will deliver a reasonable pay increase to everyone, rather than just a few.”

NZQA argues that staff received an average pay increase last year of 2.4%.

Jeff Osborne says that is misleading.

“In fact many NZQA workers have not had an increase to their base salary for several years and last year the pay increase for many of our members was actually zero.”

“Our bottom line is that we want to see a pay system which will deliver a very reasonable across-the-board percentage increase to all base salaries and which is the result of a fairly negotiated agreement,” he says.

The PSA is keen to continue talking through the issues and further negotiations are scheduled over the next week or so.

Tomorrow’s rally will take place 12.15-1pm outside NZQA at 125 The Terrace, Wellington.

ENDS

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