The staff at Parliament are a fantastic bunch. They are incredibly dedicated and helpful, and actually play a really important role in keeping our democracy going. There are two collective contracts running at Parliament one for MPs staff and the other for all the administrative, security, messengers etc. The latter contract is up for discussion at the moment and the staff are taking industrial action in the face of an effective pay freeze and an attempt to clawback on their redundancy conditions.
There was a rally today at Parliament which a number of Labour MPs attended to show our support for the staff who work hard to keep us safe, informed and happy. These staff are aware of the economic conditions the country is facing, but they deserve the respect not to have their pay and conditions dictated to them, and to have the opportunity to sit at the table and negotiate a fair deal.
There seem to be more Labour MPs at this protest than there are PSA members.
I hope it works out for them.
There outside the frame, Tim. If that is your real name.
There were quite a few Labour MPs at the protest, standing alongside the staff. I was there too but had to leave early to go to another commitment.
Labour MPs carried their support for the PS Fair Pay campaign into the House today with a statment of support tacked to the red boxes for carrying papers that we take into the House.
After a protest from ACT MP David Garrett, the speaker ordered us to remove our support statements before the end pf question time. We left the statements on as long as we could before removing them (before the end of question time).
These staff deserve the right to negotiate. It’s about fairness, which is a fundamental New Zealand value.
It’s also about fairness. Parliamentary Services wants to cut the redundancy entitlement of parliamentary staff to make it easier and cheaper to sack them. That wouldn’t happen if there were minimum redundancy protection in law, as proposed by the Redundancy Protection bill.
maybe a pic of the workers, not just the organisers and MPs? It would make the case better and kneecap that Tim Ellis guy.
you state that the P staff are “a fantastic bunch” .. I say,”aren’t we all”?
I have mentioned before, at my pretty large work place, all Salarised (non union) staff have had their bonus scheme put on hold (zero payout)for the year and no pay rise .. no debate, end of story.
We are REALLY annoyed but will take it on the chin because our jobs really are under threat (the proposed ETS will help us, that’s another debate).
When I worked with the Railways back in the 70’s/80’s we always got a cost of living raise which was great and I would hope EVERYONE got at LEAST the same every year.
We are in bad times so most are being asked to hold on. When things pick up, then it will (should) be pay back time.
@steeper Good idea – I will see if I can figure out how to do it.
Perhaps that’s a bit harsh, there are only a couple of labour MPs there and it’s possible there were a lot more PSA people demonstrating.
They should try being made redundant.