Police accept offer for 'generational' wage rise

Mid-tier police officers will get a $750 bump to their weekly pay as they and 16,000 colleagues in the nation's biggest force share in a "generational" change to wages and conditions. The $697 million pay lift, which will increase most wages by at least 25 per cent over four years, is aimed at curbing growing shortages in NSW Police. The offer was backed by 96 per cent of Police Association of NSW members, a record. "Despite the challenges faced with staffing shortages, the professionalism of our police officers has been recognised with a once-in-a-generation pay rise," union president Kevin Morton said on Tuesday. The deal improves flexible work arrangements, condenses pay scales and includes a $5400 one-off leadership retention payment for senior officers More than 10,000 constables, senior constables and sergeants will receive increases of at least 25 per cent before shift allowances, with the rest getting at least 22.3 per cent. For a level-three senior constable on $107,600, they will be collecting an extra $747 per week or $39,000 per year by mid-2027. "This is a whole suite of measures," Police Minister Yasmin Catley said. "It's all about the workforce: looking after them, getting them back to work, valuing them, respecting them, and making sure that they're paying properly." It follows other recruitment incentives including payments to trainees while they live at the academy in the southern NSW city of Goulburn. The force is authorised to have more than 18,000 sworn officers but long-term retention and recruitment issues left more than 2200 positions open in August. While settling a wage dispute with a key workforce, the massive pay offer has caused consternation across the public sector since being put on the table a fortnight ago. Nurses and midwives have used the deal as a rallying cry for their demand for a 15-per-cent instant pay increase, while rail chaos was narrowly averted over the weekend as those workers pressed for 36 per cent over four years.