11 August 2005
Radio NZ should tune in to their staff's frequency
Radio New Zealand should tune in to what's happening in the labour market and listen to their staff's call for a
reasonable and fair pay rise, Green Employment Spokesperson Sue Bradford says.
Radio NZ staff will attend a stop-work meeting this afternoon in support of their five percent pay claim. Checkpoint at
5pm will be off air as a result. The industrial action by Public Service Association and Engineering Printing and
Manufacturing Union members is the latest in a series aligned to the union movement's wider '5 in 05' campaign.
"Radio NZ provides a world class public broadcasting service which will be compromised if its staff see that the
commercial sector is offering a better deal for the same work," Ms Bradford says.
"The wider call for workers to share the benefits of the economic fair weather has to include the public sector. Just
because a community-orientated worker values their employment for the public service it provides does not mean they
should be underpaid.
"As I said when it was launched, the Greens support the unions' moderate call for a five percent pay rise. Mainstream
New Zealanders deserve to share in the current prosperity," Ms Bradford says.
ENDS