Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Fleur Fitzsimons: PSA National Secretary says ACC breached employee contracts

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Fleur Fitzsimons: PSA National Secretary says ACC breached employee contracts · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the PSA is taking the ACC to the EERA,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: that's the Employment Relations Authority. They claim they've been blindsided
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: over new work from home rules ACC Todd staff. They
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: now need to be in the office three days a week,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: that's up from two. And the union's here is they
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: got less than one hour's notice of the change. So
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: PSA National Secretary Flirfit Simons is joining me. Now, come
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: on in to your flir.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Andrew.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: What's the case you're taking.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Really, what we're asking the Employments Authority to do is
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: to suspend the new role and instead engage in some
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: proper consultation with ACC staff with an open mind, because
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: many people have planned their whole lives around their current
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: working from home arrangements. And we've got a provision in
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: the employment agreement that says they meant to talk to
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: us before they make changes, just not announce them to staff.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Why should they get these rights because a lot of people,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and I'm seeing this happening already on our text, a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: lot of people would say that working three days in
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: an office is not a hard ask.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Well, actually, what many people at ACC did is they
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: we saw the jobs that they've currently got advertised, and
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: when they were advertised, they said three days working from home.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: So people applied for these jobs changed roles and now
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: they feel really deceived and consider it sort of false advertising.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: But actually, when you can work from home, and when
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: it can work for you and your employer, it can
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: be a very good thing. It can improve productivity, it
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: can mean better concentration, and we know that it does
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: improve staff morale as well.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: But shouldn't the employer get the right to choose the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: best way to improve productivity? And if they believe it's
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: from working in the office three days a week, that's
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: the way, why shouldn't they have that right.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Well, the reality is they agreed a provision in the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: contract with us which says that they will consult with
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: staff on proposed policy changes, and then they recruited all
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: these workers on the basis that they could work from
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: home like that. So they're feeling really cheated and misled.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: So, if you got together and you had a bit
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: of a negotiation and they gave you more notice than
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: one hour, thing was I was a bit rough. But
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: if you got together had a bit of a chat
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: about it, is three days a week really such a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: hard ask?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Well, there's two elements really. The first one is they
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: do need to talk to us. We will listen and
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: we expect them to listen to staff. Then there's another element,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: which is that staff do have this agreed commitment that's
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: been made to them. Now, employers in New Zealand can't
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: simply change contractual commitments. They need to agree them with
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the worker. So there's sort of two elements to it really,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: and we're asking the Employment Relations Authority to tal ACC
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that they need to listen. It's pretty unfortunate it's come
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: to that we shouldn't need to tell an employer through
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: legal action that they need to listen to their staff
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: before they make it a decision.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: But there we are, all right, Flair, I thank you
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: so much for your time this Monday morning. Flir fitz
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Simons as the PSA National Secretary. For more from earlier
• 2:54
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• 2:57
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• 3:00
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