The Public Service Association (PSA) members walked off the job for two hours on Thursday afternoon. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Nearly 2000 probation officers and other Community Corrections staff have begun industrial action after nine months of negotiations failed to get a deal on pay and workloads.
A union organiser said the Community Corrections staff employed by the Department of Corrections are the lowest paid public servants in the country, and some are living on "poverty wages".
The Public Service Association (PSA) members walked off the job for two hours on Thursday afternoon, and planned to do so again on April 20 and 27.
Community Corrections staff manage offenders subject to sentences or court orders in the community, including those on home detention, community detention, supervision, parole and doing community work.
They also deal with deportees, or 501s, returning from Australia.
PSA lead organiser for Community Corrections Josephine O'Connor said that their mean salary was $68,000 a year, which was $10,000 less than those working for the Ministry of Social Development.
Some lower-paid staff, such as administration officers, were earning below $50,000 a year.
Thirty percent of the workforce was leaving within two years.
"We have members relying on food parcels, living off multiple credit cards and needing secondary employment, via night shifts at supermarkets. It's devastating for people who should be respected public service workers," O'Connor said.
"There are 31,000 sentences and orders being managed by PSA members at Community Corrections on any day of the week and this includes approximately 7000 people on electronic monitoring. This is a vital, 24/7 operation and the pay is appalling."
The Community Corrections collective agreement expired in July last year, and negotiations were continuing, but staff had rejected the department's latest pay offer, O'Connor said.
She declined to say what the offer was, saying it was "nuanced" and also dealt with matters such as maximum caseloads and worker burnout.
However, signs being held by striking workers outside the Hastings courthouse indicated that the offer was 2.2 per cent.
Department of Corrections Deputy National Commissioner Brigid Kean said Community Corrections staff were valued for the hard work they did on a daily basis, and their contribution to keeping the public and communities safe.
"We are continuing discussions with the PSA and it therefore wouldn't be appropriate for us to comment further on the bargaining process or outcomes at this time," she said.
This story first appeared in The New Zealand Herald