Workers face mess

Press, 9 March 1988, Page 3

Workers face mess

Public servants may be working in; a mounting mess later this week because of ! a cleaners’ strike. i

About 200 Internal Affairs Department cleaners employed to clean Government departments in Christchurch went on strike on Monday. The Public Service Association said the strike would be reviewed on March 14. The Government had decided that from April 11 each department would negotiate its own cleaning service. I The Ministry of Transport’s South Island regional manager of corporate services, Mr Bob Gibson, said : the decision meant that Internal Affairs would no longer have a monopoly on the cleaning of Government departments. Some departments might decide to continue with the Internal Affairs cleaners while others might tender out for the cleaning service,

he said. The Ministry of Transport had decided ( that each of its district offices would negotiate their own cleaning contracts, j ■ The Canterbury | regional secretary of the P.S.A., Mr John McKenzie, said he was amazed that there had been no public outcry about private companies tendering to do cleaning work in Government departments. I

Mr McKenzie accused the Government of disregarding the privacy of information ‘ gathered under statutory requirements, such as tax returns or information for social welfare benefits. | “The Inland Revenue Department has tens of thousands of tax files that are not kept secure other than inside the four walls of the building," he said. "There is nothing to stop an unscrupulous person or persons, being employed privately and nbt

under strict supervision, l going into the Inland Revenue Department to inspect, photocopy or remove confidential tax returns for ulterior motives. “That cannot happen while the cleaning, is being run by the Internal Affairs Department.” i With the contract cleaning "some of the most sensitive information of the Government service! could be let out,” he said. . li “In my view there i$ no place for business to be( involved in these sensitive areas., whereby statutory requirements of Government force people to give information." - The Inland Revenue Department’s district commissioner in Christchurch, Mr Neale McPherson, said any person who worked for the department whether under contract or as an employee had to sign a declaration of secrecy. Any breach of that would

result in legal action. J The, department ‘(would screen those; tendering and insist on references, he said.;, 1 „' H T The department j wife . aware of the sensitive nature of the information it had and very conscious .1 of the need for'secrecy, he said. Its pajst record of confidentiality had been good. H I Mr Gibson said that private firms with confidential i information already tendered for contractors to do their cleaning. ! The Ministry of Transport would not accept tenders from "fly-by-night" companies and would be looking for people recognised by an association of cleaners. > ;( Mr McKenzie said the P.S.A. wanted the State Services Commission to insist that Government departments ensured that the successful tenderers agreed to employ the present cleaners.