NSW police accuse O'Farrell of betrayal

AAP-May,16-NSW police have accused the O'Farrell government of betrayal less than two months after the state election, saying a new wages policy will lead to a cut in officer pay and numbers on the beat.
The NSW Police Association on Monday launched a campaign against legislation introduced last week, which will put into law a 2.5 per cent annual cap on pay increases for workers in the public sector.
The policy, based on the former Labor government's, will require productivity savings before the cap can be lifted.
The association's acting president, Pat Gooley, said angry police would lobby upper house MPs to block the legislation, but backed away from talk of industrial action.
Mr Gooley said the bill amounted to a pay cut for police and might lead to officers moving interstate, while the savings provisions could also see cuts to police numbers.
"The government has tried to force police into the unenviable position where they have to decide between taking a cut in real wages, or reducing services to the community," he told reporters in Sydney.
"They (police) will not accept this crazy position, and they will not bargain under these circumstances where the government is not negotiating in good faith.
"What they're saying to our members is you either lose money, or you reduce the number of police, or you reduce the number of police on shift."
Mr Gooley said police felt "betrayed" by the government, which had promised them access to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), but whose power to set wages has been curtailed under the new legislation.
NSW police have called for a five per cent annual increase over three years in a pay claim lodged with IRC in April, and the association views the new legislation as a direct attack on the wages bid.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell disputed claims that police - and the community which relies on them - would be worse off under the new legislation, saying the coalition was simply enforcing the former Labor government's wages policy.
Mr O'Farrell also denied the savings provision would lead to a cut in frontline police, saying the government had committed to increasing numbers.
"Labor's policy, which we are continuing, saw promises of productivity increase made, saw wage increases on the basis of those productivity increases, but has found $900 million worth of those productivity increases never delivered," he said.
"People shouldn't be paid on the basis of promises made, if those promises are unfulfilled.
"This policy ... guarantees that not only can we employ those additional police that we committed to in the election campaign, but we can afford future pay increases as well."
Opposition Leader John Robertson accused Mr O'Farrell of trying to freeze wages in the public sector and attacking workers' standard of living.
"He's not going to allow police in the first instance, teachers, nurses and other frontline public-sector workers to maintain their standard of living," Mr Robertson said.