KEY POINTS:
Union leaders say ordinary employees should be able to get the sort of pay rises that judges and MPs have received.
The 4.8 per cent for the judiciary gazetted this week puts a High Court judge on a salary of $362,000.
A similar increase for MPs shortly after the November 8 election gives an ordinary MP a salary of $131,000 and a Cabinet minister $243,700.
Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said all workers should be able to get similar increases.
She said some vulnerable workers struggled to get any increase at all.
"It would be great if all workers had the same bargaining power and influence as judges and were able to get pay increases like that," she said.
The national secretary of the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union, Andrew Little, said it was "not a nice look" when many families would struggle through Christmas and next year.
The average wage is $48,000.
The Treasury's forecasts released this week show a large wage movement in the year to March 2009 at 5.4 per cent. It forecasts wages to rise 4.2 per cent in 2010, 3.7 per cent in 2011, 3 per cent in 2012 and 2.9 per cent in 2013.
CTU economist Peter Conway predicted there would be "considerable disquiet" if there is great discrepancy between pay rises of managers and ordinary employees who are being laid off or getting small or no increases.
He also also raised concern that the Government had dropped the reference to full employment and fair distribution of income in its agreement with the Reserve Bank. It has been replaced with an emphasis on a "growing, open and competitive economy".
"There is going to be considerable disquiet in the union movement if higher managers and those on higher pay in addition to getting the best deal out of the tax cuts are also getting big wage increases when workers are either being laid off or being offered low increases."
Mr Conway said he did not want to "overcook" his concern with the change to the agreement with the Reserve Bank but an objective of full employment and an objective of fair distribution of income had been removed. "Why? That's the question."
What they get
Chief Justice$432,000
Appeal Court Judge $380,000
High Court Judge $362,000
Employment Court Judge $342,000
District Court Judge $273,000
Maori Land Court Judge $273,000
Prime Minister $393,000
Cabinet Minister $243,700
Minister outside cabinet $204,300
Select committee chair $144,500
MP $131,000
- additional reporting NZPA
