Staff pay cuts off the table
Union negotiations ongoing, says PSA
Staff pay cuts are off the table but the Invercargill City Council chief executive says most staff would have been happy to take a cut while they could not work during the Covid-19 crisis.
This comes after city councillors held an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, at which a vote of confidence in council chief executive Clare Hadley was called and passed.
Hadley told staff in a newsletter last month that those working full time during the Covid-19 pandemic would receive 100 per cent of their pay, while those working part-time would get 75 per cent and those who could not work would receive 50 per cent of their wages.
After a third consecutive day of meetings with the Public Service Association (PSA) yesterday, union national secretary Glenn Barclay said there would be no pay cuts for its members and no contract changes without union agreement.
Fifty-seven PSA members are employed by the council.
Council staff would continue to be paid pandemic leave until May 10, after which Hadley expected many would be able to return to work under a less restrictive alert level.
Hadley said: ‘‘The vast majority of staff impacted by the proposal had given positive feedback, and indicated they were happy to be receiving a reduced level of pay given that they were not working at full capacity.’’
Many of the staff whose pay was to be halved under the proposal worked at library and pool facilities, which remain closed during alert level 3.
Hadley said: ‘‘It is important to consider the situation in which our entire community finds itself, and to balance any potential impacts on staff, with impacts on our community.
‘‘It’s unfortunate that despite us working hard to find this balance, we have been unable to reach an agreement with the PSA at this time.’’
Barclay said: ‘‘The question of pay reduction for PSA members at Invercargill City Council has been resolved.
‘‘We are pleased to be talking constructively with the council again.’’
The union was working with the council to figure out where and how staff could work during lockdown, he said.
‘‘By involving grassroots council staff in this discussion we expect many useful ideas to be explored.’’
Hadley said ‘‘redeployment’’ of staff would continue to be investigated and implemented.
‘‘As with all employers in Invercargill, we have been tasked with finding our way through an unprecedented situation. We remain committed to being fair to all our staff, whether they are union members or not,’’ Hadley said.
Barclay said councils were obliged to look after their communities, and council workers were members of the community like any others.
‘‘Unions, employers and government must work together to protect jobs and ensure public and community services continue to be provided to the citizens and ratepayers who depend on them.’’
This came after the Invercargill meeting on Tuesday.
Deputy mayor Toni Biddle said she and mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt called the meeting, which was in reference to staff pay during alert level 3.
At the meeting, Councillor Darren Ludlow called for a vote of confidence in Hadley, Shadbolt said.
Councillor Rebecca Amundsen confirmed that she seconded the motion, and voted in favour of Hadley.
A formal resolution of confidence in Hadley was passed, Biddle said.
Biddle would not confirm how many councillors had voted for or against the motion but last night Shadbolt confirmed he had voted against it.
Shadbolt said three councillors voted against the motion but he wouldn’t elaborate on who the other two were.
After the PSA had claimed the pay cuts could be illegal, Biddle said councillors were confident Hadley had taken correct legal advice.
She said that from a governance perspective, the council needed to ensure there were no reputational risks to the council or to staff.
However, Biddle said it was ‘‘not only reputational risk we need to consider’’.
Councillor Nobby Clark, the Finance and policy standing committee chairman, said he was pleased with the union saying it had a resolution for its members. ‘‘I think PSA is a credible organisation,’’ Clark said.
Reaching a resolution was a good safeguard for staff, he said.