In comments made on Radio NZ this morning, the Public Service Minister suggested the Government was exploring "a lot of options" for public sector workers when it comes to collective bargaining.
"The PSA is seeking an urgent assurance the Minister will not be restricting the fundamental right of workers to collective bargaining and the right to withdraw their labour," PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said."The right to strike is a cornerstone of our democratic workplace relations system and the Government must come clean on any options they are looking at that could undermine this right."
This Government has already demonstrated a pattern of undermining workers' rights without proper notice or consultation. It removed pay equity rights with no warning, changed the law to financially penalise workers for taking partial strike action, and Minister Collins has already deployed replacement labour during the Defence Force strike.
"We're seeing a concerning escalation in this Government's anti-worker agenda," Fitzsimons said. "The timing of these comments comes as bargaining is underway in health and the public sector and the Government is offering below-inflation pay offers.
"This is the same Government that recently increased board directors' pay by 80%. If the Government wants to avoid public sector strike action then it should negotiate in good faith and offer fair pay increases that recognise the rising cost of living and the valuable work our members do."
The PSA is seeking an urgent meeting with Minister Collins to discuss these concerning comments and the Government's intentions regarding public sector workers' rights.
"We call on Minister Collins to clarify exactly what options the Government is considering and to rule out any moves to restrict the right to strike," said Fitzsimons.
"The right to strike is protected under international law and is a fundamental principle of free and democratic societies, for workers in both the private and public sectors. Any attempt to restrict this right would be a backward step for working New Zealanders."
Transcript from RNZ interview:
COLLINS: "...we're fully aware that the unions have said that they are going to continue strikes and they want to have strikes that we'll see across the public sector and that's probably more political than it is in the interests of their members because don't forget these partial strikes bring about a partial drop in wages as well.
DANN: "… do we just need to cut to the chase and get back to arbitration and leave it to an independent panel to make the call and then move on?"
COLLINS: "Well I think there's going to be a lot of options that we're looking at as a government as to how to move away from this basically yearly attack on students and also what we're seeing with the..."
