Govt eats humble pie with symbolic backdown on public sector pay

Grant Roberston, Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins have had to hose down angry public servants this week.

Tue, 11 May 2021

The trade union movement has wrung a small concession and symbolic backdowns from senior government ministers in a day of talks aimed at dowsing anger caused by last week’s public sector pay freeze announcement.The key concession is a commitment from public services minister Chris Hipkins to review the government ‘expectations’ on public sector wage restraint next year rather than in 2023, as previously announced.The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, met Public Service Association (PSA) leaders this morning before a meeting this...

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