[Timbo]

Fatter wallets for employees


Electricians experience 11.19% rise in year to July as survey shows employees getting pay rises quicker than bosses



8 December 2004

An annual income survey has found employees are getting pay rises more quickly than their bosses.

The National Employers Wage and Salary Survey, undertaken on behalf of the Employers and Manufacturers Association, has found ordinary employees' pay went up 3.5 percent to the July year end, compared with a 3.1 percent rise for middle management and 3.2 percent increase for senior management.

Electricians have seen a huge spark in their pay, with an 11.19 percent pay rise in the year to July, to an an average base of $48,500.

Unskilled warehouse workers also did well with a 6.5 percent increase. Petrol mechanics were paid nearly four percent more. Information systems managers only received a 1.1 percent rise.

Northern Employers and Manufacturers' Association chief executive Alasdair Thompson says the figures show proposed employment law changes designed to give employees more negotiating power are not needed.

[westie]

Timbo
This can only be good news. Do you know whether nurses can expect anything in the pot?
Maria

[Timbo]

I cant help you there Maria, I simply copy anything of possible interest from news pages. Michelle is probably the one to ask on this one as she is already nursing in Auckland. Why not PM her?

[Michelle and Richard]

Hello

Nurses pay is currently under review and has been "negotiated" for some time. They have put in for a hefty claim but as usual probably wont get it. They are asking to be brought in line with teachers and policemen and also to get some sort of superannuation scheme. Pay is a joke out here and I have to say no way does the saving s in the cost of living match the drop in salary. Sorry if that sounds negetive but its the facts as we have found them.

A colleagues husband has just got a job paying 39000 and thats for 50 hours a week and no holiday for the first year. Its not uncommon to have to work for the first year and have no leave until you have accrued it. He is a builder.

The super scheme would be good as employers schemes are very rare, there is no tax relief on pension contributions so little incentive to save into one. I got blank stares when I asked people at work what they did about pensions.

Michelle

[westie]

Thanks Michelle
Does sound a little bleak but its best to know in advance. Nothing will get me down today though as have received our passports back with our residency visas :clap :cheers :clap
Maria

[toots]

Michelle that's awful, builders earn much more than that in the UK and the new houses are just as expensive as they are here. Someone is making a mint somewhere!

You're right, the cost of living here isn't that different and many find it hard to make ends meet unless they are earning something similar to what they had back home

[veronica]

seeing as most builders are in demand here, brickies can earn between $2000 and $3000 a week, chippies are on between $40 $45 an hour, plumbers between $45 $50, that seems awfully low even for a labourer.

[Michelle and Richard]

Only going on what I have been told, think I might come back as a brickie in my next life. My hourly rate is $21 as a top grade staff nurse.

I have met a variety of people from different occupations out here and yet to meet anyone who is on more than they were in the UK, sorry but that just seems to be the case.

Yes toots you are right new houses do cost as much here as the UK so no idea where the price comes from.

Michelle

[deebat]

I saw the following article on Stuff today and thought of you nursing folks on this thread:


Nurses win 20% pay rise as dispute settled
17 December 2004
By ANNA CLARIDGE

Registered nurses have won a 20 per cent pay increase from district health boards after a long-running pay dispute was settled last night.

Under the deal, struck by the Nurses' Organisation (NZNO), a registered nurse on the top scale would see base pay rise from $45,000 to $54,000 by July 2006.

The deal also included increases for other NZNO members including midwives and would go to members for ratification in February.

NZNO spokeswoman Laila Harre said the increase was just reward for members hanging tough through the negotiation process.

The 20,000-member NZNO had voted to take strike action if a settlement could not be reached after talks stalled in September. Harre said the organisation would recommend that members accept the deal.

"I think the reaction of the nursing profession will be very favourable."

The new pay rates would not come in "overnight", but improvement in all areas would come gradually.

"We believe that one of the lasting impacts of this settlement will be through the agreement to convene an independently chaired safe staffing inquiry to look at staff levels and practices."

Harre believed that without the members' pressure, the Government would not have sought funds to make the deal. The NZNO had received huge public support in the battle for better pay, she said.

District health boards' spokesman Jim Green said the deal would help to address problems with staff retention.

"The deal was reached in negotiations that began in July and I'm pleased there has been agreement ... The $380m deal exceeds current DHB funding but has significant advantages for the health sector which is why the Government came to the party with additional funding."

Sounds like nurses are a little better off now, eh? :hopeso

-Dan

[westie]

:cheers looks like things are looking up. I have worked as a senior nurse for some time and really cannot complain too loudly but hubby has worked very hard with a difficult patient group for many years and earned comparatively small beans.
Maria

[Michelle and Richard]

Thats good news, and I have heard its back dated to June this year, I am on 47 500 so will make quite a difference.

Michelle