Thousands plan to strike

Press, 8 March 1988, Page 1

Thousands plan to strike

DAVID CLARKSON

Thousands of PublicT Service Association members are planning strike action that will close most Government departments oh Monday in the mounting protest against the State Sector Bill. In some offices the protest has already begun with staff limiting incoming calls, and cutting off information to their Ministers or their head offices. I j [! Resolutions detailing i the kind of industrial action staff ’have decided on in each office; have been pouring in to thte P.S.A.’s regional office in Christchurch. Most resolutions tell! of strike plans for the P.S.A.’s national day of action on Monday. The association’s Canterbury regional secretary, Mr : John

McKenzie, said the State staff were taking part in industrial action for a wide range I of reasons. ' "I think the Government has eroded the confidence of State employees in the Government as an honest and reliable employer,” he said. He accused the Government of planning to sell [ off the public sector to pay! its debt problem. He described j the sale of Petrocorp, at a “flea market price,?’ as a “horrendous, criminal act.” . [“The real thing that is now upsetting the members is the fact that the State employees will not be allowed to have an award and they will not be allowed to arbitrate and consult in the same manner as the private sector.

"That will add to the insecurity that all State sector employees feel at the moment,” Mr McKenzie said. Teachers have been holding strikes since last week, and Christchurch nurses have decided to strike for a week from Monday. Other hospital workers will also strike. “Our members in the hospitals have never been so angry. They are making demands to continue strike action,” Mr McKenzie said. “We have had to say quite clearly that this is an exercise against the Government as an employer, and not against the public.” Details of action, page 3 Nurses’ campaign, page 6