PSA MEDIA RELEASE
November 13, 2009

For immediate use

Justice Ministry still failing to address staff underpayment
 

The Public Service Association is disappointed the Justice Ministry is still failing to address the fact that it’s paying its staff less than the rest of the public service for work as essential as running the justice system.

The Ministry has claimed it’s made a “realistic offer” to staff who have been involved in industrial action since October 14 to show their anger at being paid on average 6.3% less than other workers in the public service. The Ministry also says that it’s committed to resolving this dispute and has invited the PSA to return to the negotiating table.

“We’re also committed to resolving this dispute but the fact is we’ve had no new offer from the Ministry of Justice,” says PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff.

“If the Ministry was serious about settling this dispute it would make a new offer and stop trying to recycle its old offer that staff have rejected by striking several times in the last two and half weeks.”

“The fact is the offer rejected by staff through industrial action fails to address the gap between their pay and the rest of the public service.”

“The Ministry offer provides no pay increases to any Justice staff until July next. After that only selected staff would get unspecified increases through an unjust pay system that’s responsible for their current underpayment.”

“The Ministry has allocated only $4.9 million for these selected pay increases next year when it’s admitted that it’s underpaying its staff by a lot more than that,” says Richard Wagstaff.

The Ministry’s own figures show that on average Justice workers are paid 6.3% below the pay median for the public service. The under payment is even worse for many Justice staff. The Ministry’s 1200 court registry officers are paid 9.25% below the public service median for the work they do.

Most court registry officers are paid between $39,600 and $46,600 a year. Their highest pay rate is $53,600. Most court registry support officers are paid between $29,500 and $35,000.Their highest pay rate is $40,000.  

The Justice Ministry says it’s calculated that the PSA claim would cost $113 million over three years.

“The $113 million figure comes from Justice, not the PSA. It’s an inflated figure the Ministry is using to exaggerate the size of its pay problems, to avoid addressing those problems,” says Richard Wagstaff.

“The problem at the heart of this dispute is that the Ministry continues to cling to an unjust ‘performance’ based pay system that’s simply doesn’t work and has caused this dispute.”

“The Ministry’s unjust pay system has created the underpayment that’s sparked the industrial action. This dispute will continue until the Ministry says it’s prepared to talk about developing a fair pay system.”

 “We’re prepared to look at closing the pay gap the Ministry’s system has created in stages to make it affordable for the Ministry.”  

“We’ve also invited the Ministry to work with us to reduce their costs by finding ways of working more efficiently, identifying and eliminating wasteful spending and improving productivity. This would offset the cost of closing the pay gap and implementing a fair pay structure.”

We’re determined to find a fair and affordable solution to this dispute and are ready to return to negotiations. But this will require the Ministry to make a commitment to developing a fair pay system,” says Richard Wagstaff.

 
ends

© Scoop Media