It gives me great pleasure to announce that PPS General Manager Phil McCarthy has honoured the commitments made during the last bargaining round in respect of Annual Leave and Institutional Coverage. The specifics of these commitments and the impact on CANZ membership are documented below.

Annual Leave
After the bargaining process was concluded, it became apparent that the CANZ CIE document contained an anomaly in respect of membership entitlement to an extra week’s leave after six years’ service. This was raised with PPS management and they agreed to look into the matter. We have now received a letter from Mr. McCarthy acknowledging and rectifying this anomaly to the satisfaction of your National Officers. Specifically, Mr. McCarthy’s letter states:

Following discussions with CANZ on the matter, PPS proposes that the abovementioned clause in the collective agreement be varied to read as follows:

After six years current continuous service staff will be entitled to an additional week of annual leave for the sixth and subsequent years of continuous service.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience that this matter may have caused to CANZ and for the delay in formally advising CANZ of the agreed change. I can assure you that it has always been my intention to deal with CANZ in good faith and that the Service will continue to do so.

Inclusion of New Facilities
PPS has also agreed to include new facilities that are currently under construction in the appropriate schedule of the Collective Agreement. The exchange of letters between CANZ and PPS states:

It is agreed that the new prisons listed below, be included under Schedule B of the 2003 – 2006 Collective Agreement.

The prisons being:
1. Northern Region Corrections Facility
2. Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility
3. Otago Region Corrections Facility

The potential benefits of the addition of the above facilities are clear, insofar as we are now guaranteed that employees appointed to positions in these new institutions will automatically be covered by the applicable CEA. This brings certainty to those who have been considering a move to one of these areas (particularly Ngawha, where appointments are already being made). We thank PPS for their commitment and cooperation in this area, as it sends a very clear signal in terms of commitment to the “good faith” provisions of the Employment Relations Act.

Distribution of Medication
Things are not progressing quite so smoothly in this area and we have now filed substantively with the Employment Relations Authority. A “Directions” conference call has been arranged for Friday 23 July and I should be in a position to further update the membership following that discussion. The potential for distribution of both “over the counter” and “prescription” medication by untrained staff is an on-going concern for both CANZ and affected medical staff and we look forward to the development of a mutually acceptable solution to what is clearly a cause of concern for all involved.

Unplanned Absences
We continue to experience “interpretation” problems in respect of this issue and the matter has also been filed with the Employment Relations Authority. It seems unlikely that we will reach a mutually acceptable solution to this problem without a clear direction from an Authority member but, as always, we are available for discussion! Once again, as this matter progresses through the system we will continue to update you.

Yours in unity,

Brian Davies
National Organiser
CANZ