The NSW Government thanks essential workers by denying them a pay rise.

The Government’s predictable response to COVID-19 – to cut wages – was met with resistance from the PSA and other public sector unions.

After weeks of platitudes about the essential work done by public servants throughout NSW, the State Government announced planned 2.5 per cent pay rises would not go ahead unless they had already been agreed.

The PSA had already negotiated a pay increase for 2020-21 for staff in Transport. Members in schools received an increase thanks to the PSA’s 2019 Pay Equity case. The CPSU NSW also won several rises for members covered by the Fair Work Commission.

However, despite the case for a 2.5 per cent pay rise for most PSA members under the Crown Employees Award being lodged in December last year, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced in May that wages would be frozen. This would also affect other non-PSA employees, including police, nurses and teachers. All these workers, and many PSA CPSU NSW members, had continued to work during the shutdown created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not happy with that, the Treasurer also mandated that public servants receiving pay increases this year would have their pay frozen in subsequent years.

The freeze came hot on the heels of substantial pay rises for senior executives, including Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, whose annual salary increased by $87,000.

Rather than put the pay freeze to a vote in parliament, the Liberal/National Government instead introduced a regulation outlining its plans to leave wages at the same level as the year before. A media backlash appeared to catch the Government by surprise, with the Treasurer then talking about one-off payments of $1000 and a no-redundancies policy.

It is important to note there was no formal announcement about the $1000 one-off payment or the no-redundancies policy, just sound bites in the media.

The NSW Legislative Council, the state’s upper house, used its authority to reject the changed regulation. Joining Labor and the Greens in supporting the bill was a broad mix of supporters; One Nation; the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers; the Animal Justice Party; and former Green Justin Field. Only Christian Democrat veteran Fred Nile voted with the Government to freeze pay.

This win on behalf of public servants and their hard work throughout NSW at this important time saw the case for a 2.5 per cent pay rise return to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC). It remains a tough fight with the Government continuing to try and enforce their discredited policy through arbitration in the IRC.

There the Government combined the pay cases of a number of public servants, including nurses, to try and stymie increases in the one go.

“The MPs saw that our members were there in schools, there in gaols, there at the Service NSW desk, there in National Parks, keeping NSW running,” said PSA General Secretary Stewart Little. “Other members were working just as hard for the people of NSW from home as those in the office.”

Media support for public-sector pay rises came from a variety of sources, including normally conservative voices such as Ray Hadley.

The case is continuing.