The Australian: Foley won’t commit to public sector wage cap

EXCLUSIVE – ANDREW CLENNELL

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has failed to commit to Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s 2.5 per cent cap on wage increases for public servants if elected next year, opening up the prospect of budget blowouts and giving Ms Berejiklian muchneeded ammunition ahead of the March 2019 NSW poll.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian, Mr Foley claimed the 2.5 per cent wages cap would be “buried in the next week” with the settlement between the government and train drivers over their industrial dispute, which has seen the drivers offered more than 3 per cent after the rail system was crippled in January.

But Mr Foley also flagged a possible return to the days when an Industrial Relations Commission-style body adjudicated on state public sector wages.

“We have concerns about the very blunt instrument (the wages cap) is,” Mr Foley said. “We’ve said there ought to be the capacity for departments or agencies and their workforces to negotiate win-win arrangements… where there’s big productivity improvements by the workforce that improve the delivery of services to the public.”

Transport for NSW has offered its workers a package that includes an annual pay increase of 3 per cent, $1000 bonuses and improved conditions. The offer is said to be worth 4.06 per cent a year in total but Transport Minister Andrew Constance claims it is within the wages cap because it involves productivity increases.

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