Staff picket travel office

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 22

Staff picket travel office

Staff from the N.Z.T.P. Travel Office in Cathedral Square will stage lunchtime placard protests this week, seeking information from the Government about their future. N.Z.T.P. Travel will be sold as part of the Government’s asset-shedding programme. The Public Service Association delegate in Christchurch, Ms Jo Downey, said staff had been told little. The Cathedral Square office was effectively closed between noon and 1 p.m. yesterday as all staff took their lunchbreaks together, she said. Staff stood outside the Government Life building with placards and would continue the action today and tomorrow if necessary, Ms Downey said. All six N.Z.T.P. Travel offices in Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington,

Christchurch, Dunedin, and Queenstown are taking simultaneous protests after talks with the State Services Commission broke down last week. "We have also ceased communication with our head office in Wellington until they tell the commission, and Treasury in particular, about the problems we are having in terms of stress and retaining staff,” Ms Downey said.

In negotiations with the commission, the sticking point was compensation. Other Government departments had made payments for stress and staff retention, she said. Since the announcement of the asset sale in the July Budget, the Christchurch N.Z.T.P. Travel office had lost six staff, with Wellington losing 13, Ms Downey said.