Paremoremo Prison in Auckland. (file photo) Photo: RNZ / Jessie Chiang
Thousands of Department of Corrections staff plan to strike over pay rates and sick leave.
The Corrections Association (CANZ) and Public Service Association (PSA) overwhelmingly rejected an offer to settle the Prisons' Collective Agreement last week, which had expired on 30 June 2023.
More than 94 percent of members in both unions also voted to strike, issuing a two week strike notice to Corrections last night.
Together, they represented more than 7700 Corrections staff.
CANZ national president Floyd du Plessis said the offer lacked information and detail.
"The members aren't able to clearly understand the offer or how it's going to affect them moving forward," he said.
The other area of concern was pay.
"The offer that's sitting there starts at around four and a half percent increase in the first year. Now, with inflation sitting at six per cent, unfortunately, over the last few years we've gone backwards," du Plessis said.
"A lot of other industries have adjusted to the times and they've given greater increases. We haven't had that. We're sitting in a situation where we are under critical staffing at the moment.
"With how bad our staffing is, we're releasing prisoners into the community without the access to rehabilitation and programmes that should be there because we just don't have enough staff," he said.
The unions were asking for a material change to remuneration and pay increases above inflation (based on the Consumer Price Index), du Plessis said.
In a statement, PSA's lead organiser Stella Teariki said the pay increase offered was too low and prison staff needed more than the ten days of statutory sick leave.
"Members have strongly sent us a message that they want to see a more realistic movement on pay rates," Teariki said.
"They also want recognition of the need to pay staff properly for weekend and night work to ensure safe staffing levels over nights and weekends.
"The sick leave provisions need to be enhanced as Corrections staff often work closely in cramped, overcrowded conditions with people who often have poor health."
Prior to the statutory ten sick days coming into force, prison staff had extra allowances and it needed to happen again, du Plessis said.
"We're still sitting on ten days. But just like with teachers, who have been recognised with higher sick leave due to what they deal with, we're just saying we want equity with that," he said.
Recognition of extra training for Corrections officers did not happen fast enough, Teariki said.
CANZ said five proposed strike notices had been given to Corrections and the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
From 27 September, members of both unions would not use computer systems, except to load incident reports and misconducts and would not respond to Corrections emails.
A six-hour strike was planned from 12pm on 5 October, CANZ said.
Members would refuse to work weekend overtime from 29 September to 9 October.
Corrections deputy chief executive people and capability Richard Waggott said it would not be appropriate to comment while they were continuing discussions with both unions.
"Public safety is our top priority, and we always have extensive business continuity plans in place across the country. This ensures we can continue to operate safely in a range of different situations, including industrial action, which we have been actively preparing for," Waggott said.
"Our staff do a challenging job working with some of the most vulnerable and complex people in New Zealand, and it takes a particular kind of person with specialist skills to do this job well. We value our staff for the hard work they do on a daily basis, and their contribution to keeping prisons, the public and our communities safe."
"Like many other organisations and businesses around the country, we have been facing ongoing challenges related to our staffing levels. We fully acknowledge the pressure this has placed on staff working in prisons, which is why we have been making a concerted effort to recruit, retain and train," Waggott said.
"There has been an increase in the number of job applications received for new Corrections officers, with more than 5800 applications received since October 2022. We have also recruited 540 people into frontline roles, with many more in the recruitment pipeline."
A mediated bargaining session between the unions and Corrections began at 9am on Wednesday and was expected to last until the evening.
Another day of bargaining was also set down for Saturday, CANZ said.