FIGHTING THE GOVERNMENT’S PLAN TO DESTROY PUBLIC SERVICES
In May, the finance minister laid out a plan to devastate the public service by merging departments, replacing workers with untested AI, and setting a target of dismissing almost 9,000 public service workers by 2029.
We immediately responded to show the Government that we are standing against this serious threat to job security and the services all New Zealanders rely on.
The following weekend, more than 1,000 people rallied in Wellington against the Government’s callous cuts to public services and the people who deliver them.
Union delegates and officials, allies, and Opposition politicians all spoke against the plan with one voice: this government doesn’t get to define your worth. They don’t get to make reckless cuts to our public services without our say.
We’ll continue to fight this destructive and deeply harmful attack and get the truth of this plan out to the public.
WE WILL NOT STAND FOR POOR PAY OFFERS
In this election year, facing a hostile government, bargaining is becoming more difficult and it seems likely that we will need to resort to more industrial action.
We say this in July, after 1,300 PSA members working at the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Ministry for Ethnic Communities (MEC) walked off the job to support their claim for a pay offer that keeps pace with the cost of living.
Members at DIA, NEMA, and MEC were facing a miserable offer which included an average pay increase of 0.8%. We know that members across our membership are facing similarly bad offers.
We do not take strike action lightly. No matter where we work, we all care about the services we deliver. But we deserve to be paid fairly for our work as well. Strikes are a clear line in the sand that says we will not accept offers that will leave us worse off.
Employers argue that their budgets are tight – we say that it isn’t our responsibility to pay for this Government’s decision to waste money on handouts for landlords and tobacco companies.
MBIE has just held stop-work meetings to consider industrial action, and industrial action may be needed at other agencies too. We will need our strength and solidarity for the coming months.
FORMAL COMPLAINT TAKEN TO UNITED NATIONS OVER GUTTING OF PAY EQUITY
A formal complaint has been lodged with the United Nations asking them to investigate whether the Government's changes to pay equity laws amount to systemic discrimination against women.
Last year the Government cancelled claims that covered more than 180,000 workers – the vast majority, women – across care and support work, disability support, education, health and community and public services.
The complaint to the UN, brought by the Pay Equity Coalition Aotearoa (PECA) – which comprises of 20 organisations, including the PSA – highlighted with concern that the changes particularly disadvantage wāhine Māori, Pasifika women, migrant women, disabled women, and older women workers, many of whom dominate the critically important workforces of health, care and support and education.
Dame Judy McGregor, spokesperson for PECA, said:
“These are roles that have been chronically undervalued for decades. A year on, workers are no closer to justice. The law change has created a system that is much harder to access or work with – one where the thresholds and controls now make it extremely difficult for claims to proceed.”
The United Nations will assess whether the complaint is admissible. If the complaint is accepted, it will be sent to the New Zealand Government for a response.
PSA SUPPORTS CLIMATE ACTION ON NELSON LONG-TERM PLAN
Nelson City Council has reinstated climate change and the environment as one of the draft strategic priorities for the region’s Long-Term Plan after strong community action opposing it.
The strategic priorities are significant within the Long-Term Plan because they provide critical guidance to staff about where to increase or decrease resourcing and activity. It will also guide senior leadership through the ongoing restructures at Nelson City Council.
Over 40 people, including PSA members, rallied outside council offices on 7 May to demand the council put the environment front and centre.
City councillors also received hundreds of emails urging them to reconsider.
PSA organiser Sarah Proctor-Thomson said the demonstration was an awesome example of democracy in action.
“There was a real mix of ages at the demonstration, including young people.
“It was amazing for them to see that their action had led to a change in decision from the council.”
HOME SUPPORT WORKERS WIN MILEAGE RATE INCREASE, BUT IT STILL FALLS SHORT
Sustained campaigning by home support workers saw them win a 30% increase to their mileage rate to 82.5 cents per kilometre, on 2 April, while petrol prices were skyrocketing.
While this win was a positive step, it still falls short of what is needed and is only temporary. The rate will reduce again once petrol drops below $3 per litre for four consecutive weeks, or 31 March 2027 – whichever comes first.
Around 23,000 home support workers care for our elderly and people with injuries, illness and disabilities, helping them live independently in their own homes. They are among the lowest-paid workers in the country, had their pay equity claims cancelled, and are the only publicly funded workers required to supply and maintain a car as a condition of their employment.
Home support workers need the costs they incur to do their job to be properly covered.
In May, the PSA and E tū filed a submission with the Ministry of Health, calling for the mileage rate to be increased permanently to $1.17/km in line with the IRD rate. Or, failing this, the funders should fund and require employers to provide each worker with a car for work use, cover the cost of maintenance, servicing, registration and warrants of fitness, and reimburse all actual fuel costs from use for work purposes.
At the time of publishing, there has been no update from the Ministry of Health. The PSA’s home support workers will continue to fight for fair pay and conditions.
