9th September 2008

COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS

CANZ National President Beven Hanlon has signed the final draft of the CANZ / PS Collective Agreement, and the final draft of the ACRP / PS Collective Agreement. CANZ members will be able to access the documents through the CANZ website www.canz.gen.nz within a few days.

The Union has also requested that the Blue Books be printed and distributed to CANZ Union Officials on each site.

FREE LOADERS

CANZ has expressed its disappointment at the Departments decision to pass on word for word all of the improvements gained at the negotiation table to Non Union people working in Prisons.

This was a difficult negotiation and a lot of time and effort and Union resources were used before the Agreements were finally ratified.

Following the rejection of the first offer, the Union bargained for a one off payment which PS conceded to with the offer of the $750.00 one off payment. The Union requested that this component of the deal be not passed on to Non Union people, and was assured that the request would be considered.

PS made the offer conditional that the Union had to ratify the offer by 30 June 2008. The employer party said the money would not be available after that date.

However on 6 August some 5 weeks after the deal was ratified, the exact same offer has been made to all non union people.

The Union has had serious concerns regarding the stance of PS in respect to Non Union people being offered the Union negotiated deal and has taken legal advice on the matter. The Unions Officials have already expressed their disappointment to Senior Corrections management.

The free loaders who work in prisons and who take the Union offer without making any contribution to the process might think they are clever or they might think they are saving themselves the price of a Union Membership, but ultimately their actions undermine the Collective Strength of the Union. And if there was no Union, would the Employers ever negotiate with anyone?

CREDITING OF STATUTORY HOLIDAYS

CANZ have requested an update from PS on the status of the crediting/back dating of lieu days which was one of the terms of settlement.

PS were unable to provide us with a date upon which this calculation and adjustment would be made. It is our understanding that payroll are still to identify whether they were able to do something centrally or whether it has to be “done the hard way” i.e. staff clerks physically back tracking through individual time sheets.

We will advise you immediately upon receiving a formal response from PS mean while we would suggest that you gather this information up your self on an individual basis and retain it so you can compare it with the amount of days PS finally credit to you.

WORK PRACTICES PROJECT

Progress has been made toward launching the Work Practices Project and a future UPDATE will detail the process and time frame for the period leading up to the next negotiations beginning in August 2009.

Mt. EDEN / ACRP REDEVELOPMENT

CANZ Union Officials and Site Delegates are meeting with Corrections Management this Friday at MEACRP in an attempt to forge a Protocol for Union / Management Relationships as the redevelopment Project progresses.

On behalf of the National Officers