{"id":644375,"date":"2026-10-29T02:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T02:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/644375\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T02:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T02:08:13","slug":"tvnz-workers-reject-2-5-pay-rise-wanting-at-least-double-that-walk-off-job-for-the-first-time-in-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/644375\/","title":{"rendered":"TVNZ workers reject 2.5% pay rise, wanting at least double that, walk off job for the first time in 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThey\u2019ve been asking for months and finally now made the decision to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

E t\u016b members said they weren\u2019t opposed to more strikes if the 5% mark wasn\u2019t met, but said it would be up to the whole team to decide.<\/p>\n

\"TVNZTVNZ staff picketing outside the company’s flagship building on Victoria St West in Auckland’s CBD. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n

Strikes were held across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith annual inflation at 3.7%, that\u2019s another real pay cut for a workforce that has seen offers fall below inflation for years,\u201d the union said this morning.<\/p>\n

Outside the Auckland office, TVNZ M\u0101ori Affairs correspondent Te Aniwa Hurihanganui, 1News reporter Aziz Al Sa\u2019afin and political producer Tom Day could be seen among the crowd.<\/p>\n

E t\u016b member and TVNZ employee Hamish Hodges told the Herald that bargaining had been a \u201clong rollercoaster ride\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be acknowledged we do a lot of hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said pay rises in the past nine or so years hadn\u2019t kept up with inflation.<\/p>\n

Mackintosh said earlier today that the country relied on \u201cgood media\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve watched newsrooms shrink and experienced people leave the industry for years. Every time someone walks out the door because they can\u2019t afford to stay, the whole country loses something.<\/p>\n

\u201cTVNZ belongs to the public. New Zealanders expect it to tell the truth and hold power to account, and they\u2019d expect it to treat its own workers fairly too.\u201d<\/p>\n

TVNZ reiterated this morning what it told the Herald last week \u2013 that the company had not yet reached an agreement with the union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in constructive bargaining discussions with the unions since July, but have not yet reached an agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain committed to a remuneration increase for members. However, the unions\u2019 current proposal exceeds what TVNZ can sustain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SomeSome striking staff held signs saying \u201cPay us what we\u2019re worth\u201d and \u201cPay me, don\u2019t insult me”. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n

TVNZ journalist and E t\u016b delegate Ethan Te Ora said wages needed to rise in line with inflation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hearing stories about workers at TVNZ choosing between buying baby formula and coming into work, because they can\u2019t afford the transport costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cA decent pay offer would make all the difference. Let\u2019s be clear, no one goes into journalism for the money, but we deserve more than meagre pay rises that don\u2019t keep up with the cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al Sa\u2019afin said pay was detrimental to keeping some of the company\u2019s most experienced journalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my colleagues have given more than 20 years to TVNZ. They\u2019re incredibly skilled people who care deeply about what they do, and they deserve to be paid fairly. Instead, they\u2019re struggling to cover the mortgage or rent and keep food on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all love what we do. We just want to be able to keep doing that while being paid fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019ve been asking for months and finally now made the decision to take action.\u201d E t\u016b members said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2327,17311,11730,1975,51,8609,1888,2082,27509,3158,78,3112,88972,5840,111,43,139,69,6662,14727,2744,22053,1436,544,1516,1361,223,1961,2044,6445,39163,34890,55857,29591,4478,1530],"class_list":["post-644375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2327","tag-17311","tag-afternoon","tag-at","tag-auckland","tag-double","tag-first","tag-for","tag-gathered","tag-headquarters","tag-in","tag-job","tag-journalists","tag-least","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-off","tag-outside","tag-pay","tag-reject","tag-rise","tag-some","tag-staff","tag-that","tag-the","tag-this","tag-time","tag-tvnz","tag-tvnzs","tag-walk","tag-walked","tag-wanting","tag-workers","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}