PSA MEDIA RELEASE
October 16, 2007
For Immediate Use

Statistics NZ Staff Hold More Rallies

Staff at Statistics NZ are holding further rallies as part of their industrial action for the right to negotiate their pay.

More than 170 workers at Statistics NZ, who belong to the PSA, took part in lunchtime rallies and other activities two weeks ago. (October 4)

Tomorrow they will be staging a roadside rally on Aotea Quay in Wellington, near Statistics NZ’s head office. The early morning rally starts at 7.45am and runs until 8.45am.

On Thursday (October 18) Statistics NZ staff in Christchurch will be holding a roadside rally on the corner of Madras Street and Bealey Avenue. The half hour lunchtime rally starts at 12.30pm.

The rallies are part of industrial action by more than 540 Statistics NZ staff throughout the country.

They stopped working overtime on September 30. In addition field interviewers have stopped feeding information to the department that they’ve gathered by interviewing people in their homes. They began that ban at 10pm last Sunday (October 14) and it will continue for four days until 10pm on Thursday October 18.

“Normally the field interviewers feed this data at least once a day from lap top computers and by post and courier,” says PSA National Secretary, Richard Wagstaff.

Statistics NZ needs this data to compile key economic indicators. These include the Household Labour Force Survey, that measures unemployment. The Food Price Index, that measures food prices every month, and the Consumer Price Index that tracks the rate of inflation.

“This is vital information the Government, the Reserve Bank and the finance sector needs,” says Richard Wagstaff. “The flow of this information is being jeopardised because Statistics NZ has refused to take their workers claims seriously since negotiations began in June.”

The staff taking the industrial action are seeking the right to negotiate their pay. Statistics NZ insists that it will determine the pay rates for the bulk of them which is contrary to the Government’s bargaining parameters.

“The Government expects its departments to negotiate minimum pay rates and to include these in collective agreements,” says Richard Wagstaff. “The staff are simply asking the department to comply with the Government’s bargaining parameters.

The Statistics NZ staff also want to hold onto extra leave for long serving workers, which the department wants to axe.

They’re also claiming that field interviewers, who interview people in their homes, should be paid the same as office based staff who interview people by phone. Field interviewers earning $14 an hour are paid $3.18 an hour less than phone interviewers. Those on the top rate of $16.50 an hour earn $4.40 less.

The Statistics NZ staff taking action also want to be covered by a single collective agreement with core provisions. The field interviewers are on a separate collective.

In further industrial action they’ll refuse to reply to internal emails
from 9am to 5pm. From tomorrow, they’ll also stop going to any meeting that prevents them from taking a half hour lunch break, and they won’t attend new meetings that start before 10am or end after 2pm on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

ends

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