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Speaker 1: Good afternoon. We have a new development for you in

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Speaker 1: the primary teachers pay negotiations. The government's man has now

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Speaker 1: decided to offer the same pay deal to teachers who

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Speaker 1: are not in the union. It's four point seven percent

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Speaker 1: and pay increases in the next twelve months. Now the

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Speaker 1: union was scheduled to come on the show in half

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Speaker 1: an hour's time. They have just pulled out. Sir Brian

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Speaker 1: Roach is the Public Service Commissioner and with us afternoon.

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Speaker 2: Brian, Good afternoon, Heather.

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Speaker 1: Why have you made this offer to the non union teachers.

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Speaker 2: Because there are ten thousand non unionized teachers who have

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Speaker 2: been deprived of a settlement. In the normal course of events,

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Speaker 2: we would have kept going with the NZEDI, and we

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Speaker 2: are still keeping going with them, but I got to

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Speaker 2: the point where I could no longer justify with holding

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Speaker 2: an offer. So they, the non union members, have the

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Speaker 2: option now of accepting or not accepting. I don't think

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Speaker 2: it impacts at all on our good fate bargaining and

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Speaker 2: our strong commitment to reach a settlement with NZDI.

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Speaker 1: Is it lawful, of course.

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Speaker 2: But is risky and that's playing out now that this

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Speaker 2: is a question of equity. Why would somebody who's not

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Speaker 2: in the union be deprived of being able to benefit

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Speaker 2: from something they're under no obligation to accept it. I

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Speaker 2: fully respect that, But ten thousand people, where I can

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Speaker 2: make their lives better and get greater stability, is worth doing.

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Speaker 1: You may not have an answer to this question, but

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Speaker 1: the NZ of the Eye says it's going to file

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Speaker 1: urgent legal action. What would that be?

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Speaker 2: I think they were talking about an injunction to stop

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Speaker 2: me doing this. I'm not aware of it. I mean,

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Speaker 2: we did this after careful consideration and on the basis

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Speaker 2: of equity between two categories of teachers, the unionized group,

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Speaker 2: and we're fully engaged with them and the non unionized group.

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Speaker 2: The two are separate and distinct, and that's how I

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Speaker 2: view them.

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Speaker 1: Is this the first time a public service commissioner has

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Speaker 1: made an offer this publicly and this widely to non

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Speaker 1: union members.

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Speaker 2: I think it may be the first, But that has

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Speaker 2: it motivated me. I think it's the right thing to

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Speaker 2: do in the circumstances I face, and I remain committed

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Speaker 2: to reaching a settlement with all teachers, and we have

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Speaker 2: done well today and we've still got NZEI to do.

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Speaker 1: Do you imagine that it will put pressure on them

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Speaker 1: to wrap up their negotiations.

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Speaker 2: We've been putting pressure on them anyway. I mean, that's

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Speaker 2: the matter for them to determine with their members what

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Speaker 2: they do next. I respect that now.

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Speaker 1: We spoke to Liam Rutherford of the NZDI not long ago,

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Speaker 1: maybe in earlier this week, maybe late last week, and

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Speaker 1: they sounded like they were going soft on this business

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Speaker 1: of wanting the treaty reflected in the contracts. Have they

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Speaker 1: rolled over on that one yet?

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Speaker 2: They haven't, but it has not become It's not as

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Speaker 2: prevalent as it once was, and you know, that's been

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Speaker 2: part of the frustration. We have been trying to bargain

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Speaker 2: for the best part of five or six months. In

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Speaker 2: the normal course of events, we would have reached a

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Speaker 2: settlement by now and non union members would have been fitted.

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Speaker 2: We haven't been anele to reach a segment with the union,

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Speaker 2: so I can't see why we shouldn't move to the

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Speaker 2: non union members.

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Speaker 1: Brian, thank you for your time and best of luck

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Speaker 1: with it. Sir Brian wrote to the Public Service Commissioner.

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