P.S.A. industrial action

Press, 8 March 1988, Page 3

P.S.A. industrial action

Industrial action is planned by Canterbury members of the Public Service 1 Association against the State Sector Bill. The following action has been reported to the P.S.A.’s regional office in Christchurch:

In the region’s psychiatric hosjSitals, including Sunnyside and Templeton in Christchurch, Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer Springs, and Seaview Hospital at ! Hokitika, . and Braemar and Ngawhatu at Nelson, patient care will continue (through the industrial action. The action in the hospitals would be staggered to ensure that patients would be fed, clothed rind cared for, said the association’s regional secretary, Mr John McKenzie.

“It is quite likely that we won’t:be able to carry out all the duties, but the patients’ welfare in general will be preserved,” he said. Blenheim dental nurses will strike on Monday. Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries staff at Lincoln have voted to strike for one day on Monday. Meat inspectors at Waitaki International’s Blenheim and Nelson plants will strike on Monday. Ministry of Transport staff, not including traffic officers, have voted to strike on Monday. Health Computer Service staff in Christchurch will strike for 24 hours from midnight on Sunday. Inland Revenue Department staff in Nelson have voted to ban all taxpayerinitiated inquiries, and will not serve the counters during the strike, except for the cashier’s counter. They will not answer letters not received before the strike began, and will ban audits sought by taxpayers, investigations, and advisory or field visits.

Staff at McKenzie Residential School, Yaldhurst Road, will strike on Monday.

Valuation Department staff in Blenheim will strike bn Monday. Occupational therapy department staff at Timarri Hospital will strike on Monday. P.S.A. members, including librarians and administration staff, at Christchurch! Teachers’ College will strike on Monday.

Staff! in the Education Department’s southern regional , office in Christchurch! will! go on strike on Monday and have banned action on Ministerial inquiries or Parlia-

mentary business from yesterday. Physiotherapists at Princess Margaret Hospital will strike for 24 hours from 8 a.m. on Monday. Christchurch probation officers will strike on Monday, and from yesterday all. service to the courts and the District Prisons Board will cease until further notice, as well as all communication with the head office and replies to Ministerial inquiries.

Customs Department staff in Christchurch and at Christchurch Airport and Lyttelton will strike on Monday. Labour Department, Conservation Department and Health Department staff will strike on Monday.

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Marlborough Hospital Board’s social work department and alcohol and drug clinic staff will strike on Monday. Statistics Department and New Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department staff in Christchurch will strike on Monday. Child and family guidance staff in the Canterbury Hospital Board area will strike for the day on Monday. Meat inspectors at Kokiri on the West Coast will be on strike on Monday.

Physiotherapists at Nelson Hospital will strike on Monday or as soon as possible after that. Since March I, no Ministerial correspondence has been handled by Nelson’s Conservation Department staff, and there has been a campaign of non-co-operation with the head office.

Survey and Land In-! formation Department; staff will strike on Mon-i day. ( The Christchurch Hos-; pital crisis team and; physiotherapists will! strike on Monday. D.S.I.R. employees at Canterbury University( have voted to strike on 1 Monday. (

Staff at the Commercial Affairs Division of the Justice Department will strike on Monday. Offices of the District Court and High Court will be closed from midday to 2 p.m. daily. No courts will be staffed during that time, nor after 4 p.m; each day, from yesterday. Justice Department staff will also strike on Monday.

Occupational therapy department staff at Burwood, Christchurch, 1 Templeton, Princess Mar. garet and Coronation hospitals will strike on Monday, along with speech rind therapy department staff at Christchurch.

Burwood Hospital’s recreation department and its physiotherapists will strike on Monday, while at Van Asch College, Sumner, all except rostered staff will go on strike for the day. Staff of the Social Welfare Department in Christchurch will strike from Monday to Thursday next week. Since February 29, they have been taking telephone calls only from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. Arrangements have been made to ensure that beneficiaries receive payments and that cases of hardship are adequately dealt with. At the Department of Social Welfare in Blenheim, no information on benefits and pensions will be prepared, and social workers will prepare no court reports and will refuse to supervise young offenders. Staff in administration, revenue, benefits and pensions will refuse telephone calls and will not respond to Ministerial inquiries.

Meat inspectors at Smithfield and Pareora will strike on Monday.

Housing Corporation staff will take calls only from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will stop handling information to and from the Minister’s office.