Quiet year for strikes, as workers win pay settlements

Nurses striking for better pay and conditions in Christchurch in August. Photo / Pierre Nixon

Talk of industrial action is in the air.

University staff went on strike in October, and staff from Oranga Tamariki voted to strike, but called it off after recommencing talks.

Debate on the Government's recent Fair Pay Agreements legislation, which passed last month, also raised the spectre of future strikes, This was mainly because the agreements will make for more powerful unions - workers are actually barred from striking during FPA talks under the legislation, so backers believe they will actually decrease strikes.

Despite a flurry of industrial relations talk, there have actually been very few strikes this year. In the nine months to September 30, there were just five work stoppages (a category including both strikes and lockouts) according to data from MBIE.

MBIE is chasing employers for October data, which has not been submitted yet, despite a requirement for employers to do so. Once the data is updated it should show the additional strike of the tertiary education workers.

This year's five strikes were relatively small, involving 122 employees with an estimated wage loss of $22,000.

This compares with a recent peak of industrial action in 2019, when there were 158 work stoppages involving 53,752 workers with an estimated wage loss of $9.78 million.

Despite high inflation putting pressure on employees, this year is on track to record the fewest strikes of any year under the current government.

Industrial action appears to have returned to levels last seen in 2017.

In 2017, during which National was in government for most of the year, there were just six strikes involving 421 people, losing $1.24m in wages.

CTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges said it was "impossible to say definitively" why industrial action was so muted.

She suggested the fact that employers and unions had negotiated some large settlements, occasionally with double-digit pay increases, may have contributed.

"We're close to full employment and there have been some large settlements happening," Ansell-Bridges said.

"Maybe it is a fact that currently collective bargaining has been successful at getting good incomes for people," she said.

"No one wants to strike," she said.

Stats NZ data out this week showed average hourly wages rising 7.4 per cent, just ahead of inflation. Private sector average hourly earnings rose even faster, posting 8.6 per cent growth over the course of the year.

However, there are fears inflation will be more persistent than initially thought, which could put pressure on employees and employers to continue negotiating large settlements.

Having offered one large settlement, employers may feel reluctant to offer another.

Ansell-Bridges said this was a question of wait and see.

"There's people bargaining now. There will be expectations that people have around wages," she said.