Strikes able to be managed without impact on court users

The Ministry of Justice has been able to manage the impact of nationwide strikes generally without significant impacts on court users, Ministry General Manager District Courts Tony Fisher said this afternoon.

Some courts were adjourned, but others were able to continue. Certain courts were not sitting today and business was not affected. The main impacts on court sittings today were:

Northern region: In Whangarei, Manukau and Waitakere some courts were adjourned.

Central region: In Hamilton two trials postponed until tomorrow. Satellite courts at Huntly, Morrinsville, Te Kūiti and Te Awamutu were closed. A jury trial in Rotorua adjourned today will commence tomorrow. In Napier some courts were adjourned and in Masterton courts were deferred until tomorrow.

Southern region: A family court was adjourned until tomorrow in Invercargill.

“The Ministry is disappointed that the PSA has taken this action to try and inconvenience court users in this way. The Ministry had many hours of discussion with the PSA last week and considers that progress was made. There is still plenty to talk about, and we remain willing to meet with them at any time.

“The PSA’s action today in seeking a precondition the Ministry agree to their claims prior to commencing bargaining is not good faith bargaining.

“The Ministry has already made two offers to the PSA which would have resulted in pay rises for most staff. Members did not have the opportunity to vote on either of these. We have already settled similar offers with NUPE, the other union representing Ministry staff, and with approximately 600 of our staff on individual employment agreements.

“We have always said we are committed to settling a collective employment agreement and that hasn’t changed. The economic reality is the Ministry cannot agree to a settlement at any cost,” Mr Fisher said.

ENDS

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