P.S.A. action likely

Press, 26 January 1988, Page 4

P.S.A. action likely

PA Auckland Auckland’s 11,000 Public Service Association members will meet on February 16 to discuss industrial action over the State Sector Bill. The bill, which is due to become an act of Parliament on April 1, proposes sweeping changes in State services conditions of employment. Northland members will meet today to discuss the action which has been agreed to throughout New Zealand. The 24-hour stoppage is planned for mid-March with confirming industrial action. The general secretary of the P.S.A. Mr Colin Clark, told a meeting of 150 Auckland delegates yesterday that the association had reservations about Government

reassurances over, the bill. It would give the Prime Minister the right to make direct Government appointments to what were permanent head positions in the public service. “We now have the potential for the Government of the day to return the country to the risk of corruption and patronage which was a feature of our public service before 1912,” Mr Clark said. "Security of tenure, an essential protection from political pressures, is also replaced by short-term contract employment for hundreds of top positions.” Mr Clark said these and many other measures in the bill would not make for harmonious relationships, and the service risked losing a lot of good workers.