Nga mihi nui ki a koutou

Welcome to the final issue for 2009 of Mana Mahi, a panui we produce to keep you up to date with what is happening with the Workplace Wellbeing Project, and with employment relations news and events in the tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector.

In our last issue we discussed the dual strategy that is needed to advance employment issues in our sector: the need, on the one hand, to strengthen our HR capacity - while on the other hand, we continue to work to develop a long-term strategy for increased salary funding as part of a coherent plan for workforce development in our sector.

Two items in this issue deal with the strategic side. First, Workplace Wellbeing has been proud to be involved in the development of a ground-breaking Multi Employer Collective Agreement (MECA) for three community houses in the Waikato. This will strengthen these houses' case for better, more consistent salary funding for their valued staff - and by linking the houses together on common issues, it begins to turn the tide on the divisions between us that have been created by contracting out.

Staying with things strategic, in this issue we also reproduce most of a recent radio interview with Brenda Pilott, PSA national secretary, on the PSA's involvement in the sector. Brenda has a background in the sector and this will make good summer reading for anyone interested in the role that unions can play in advancing our common interests in fair and sustainable funding.

Some progress has been made in some areas this year. We celebrate the latest win in the Employment Court to ensure disability support workers are paid at least the adult minimum wage for the essential work they do (p. 4).
A coordinated plan for workforce development in our sector is essential. To this end it is also great to see that the Social Services ITO, Te Kaiawhina Ahumahi, will commence discussions in early 2010 on a much-needed workforce development plan for social service organisations.

Despite these bright lights, and despite some early media hype about the end of the recession, this remains a difficult time for our organisations and for the people we serve. In the September 2009 quarter, unemployment rose to a nine year high of 6.5%. As NZ Council of Christian Social Services Executive Office Trevor McGlinchey comments, the reality for a large number of New Zealanders continues to be grim and the official measures of recession do not describe the impact on many families.

The latest vulnerability report from NZCCSS the shows some disturbing trends emerging, including an increase in the numbers of New Zealand children living in benefit-dependent households. Service providers are under huge stress with one agency chairperson describing the increased referrals as almost overwhelming.

In response, in December, Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett announced a further $10.86 million will be granted to 184 community organisations working under severe financial pressure. While this is good, tough times call for more than a band-aid approach. Jobs will continue to be cut or lost in both the public and community sectors and those who remain will bear the brunt of increased demand. More than ever we need serious commitment from the government to funding a strong, sustainable and vibrant service community which can support New Zealand families.

Let this be a common rallying call for all of us in 2010. In the meantime, we wish you all a safe, happy and restful Christmas.

- The Workplace Wellbeing Project Team

Ground breaking Community House MECA Launched in the Waikato

October 29 marked a ground-breaking event for three community houses based in the Waikato.
After more than four years of discussion and deliberation, Pukete, Ngaruawahia and Hamilton East community houses joined together to sign a Multi-Employer Collective Agreement (MECA) setting out common pay and employment conditions for their staff.

The MECA project is a pilot initiative undertaken in partnership between three community houses, Community Waikato, and the Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota, with support from the Department of Labour's Partnership Resource Centre and the Workplace Wellbeing Project. The community houses are part of a region-wide network of 40 community houses.

The boards and staff of the three community houses have long been passionate about the need to work together collaboratively to develop common standards and conditions for paid staff in their organisations. They see a MECA as a very positive, collective way of achieving that. "This approach is great for smaller organisations like us, which don't have the resources that larger groups do", says Anne Ramsay, Coordinator of Ngaruawahia Community House.
"Working together like this - boards, staff and union - helps us support the development of common st

ndards for employment policy across our three houses. This helps us budget for future employment costs. Also, because we are dealing with one collective agreement rather than continually having to draft new agreements with individual staff, it helps save us time and money too."

The group hopes that the new MECA will also assist funders. By providing a consistent set of standards for wages and working conditions across the three Houses, the MECA can give them confidence that they are funding consistent quality service delivery across the entire group. Now that the document has been ratified by the union members in each House, the hope is that other Houses in the Waikato Region Community Houses Network will also consider joining.

If you are interested in becoming part of the MECA or would like to learn more about what is involved, email Jane Stevens at Community Waikato at jane [at] communitywaikato [dot] org [dot] nz or phone 07 838 1583.

Pilot MECA for Community Houses Launch: Jane Wood (Pukete Community House), Anne Ramsay (Ngaruawahia Community House), Jane Stevens (Community Waikato), Chris Elphick (Partnership Resource Centre), Conor Twyford (Workplace Wellbeing Project), Iriaka Rauhihi (SFWU), Grant Duffy (Partnership Resource Centre), Jane Landman (Hamilton East Community House) and Sue Ravlich (Pukete Community House) celebrate the launch of the pilot MECA for Community Houses in the Waikato region.

Mana Mahi Employment Resource - have you got yours yet?

ManaMahi ResourceWorkplace Wellbeing's new, one-stop employment relations resource, Mana Mahi, was launched late last year at seminars in Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.

Produced specifically for tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector organisations, Mana Mahi contains 17 best practice guides on a variety of topics ranging from employment law and employment agreements through to performance management, managing employment relationship problems, mediation, unions and more.

Also included in the pack are 6 resource booklets, including a sample employment handbook, and an easy-to-use CD containing checklists, templates and a range of best practice material.

Copies are available now for $25 inc GST and postage, and can be ordered from manamahi [dot] orders [at] gmail [dot] com or phone 04 472 3364.

"Working for Effective Employment Relationships" - 2010 Workshops

Thurs 11 March Marlborough, Volunteer Marlborough. Ph 03 577 9388 email vm [at] volunteermarlborough [dot] org [dot] nz

Planned for early 2010... Rotorua, Kapiti, Hamilton, Gisborne, Christchurch - more details in the new year!

These one-day workshops are designed for board/committee members and managers of community organisations which employ paid staff. Topics covered include the principles of the Employment Relations Act, managing workplace conflict and performance issues, governance and management in employment situations, mediation, remuneration, unions and workforce development. The cost per participant is $40, which includes lunch and a copy of our new, one-stop employment resource, Mana Mahi.

Interested in hosting or attending a sector employment workshop in your area? Planning is now underway for 2010.
If you are interested in hosting a workshop in your area, or think there is a local organisation in your area that could host one, please email Conor Twyford, Workplace Wellbeing Project Manager, at ere [dot] project [at] gmail [dot] com

Participants at the West Auckland Workplace Wellbeing workshop, September 2009

Disability Support Workers Sleepover case - another step towards justice

The PSA and SFWU have welcomed a further decision by the Employment Court confirming the right of disability support workers to be paid the minimum wage of $12.50 for every hour on duty during sleepovers.

The case involved disability support worker Phil Dickson. He works at an IHC community house that is home to five service users with intellectual disabilities. As part of his job Mr Dickson does 'sleepover' shifts from 10pm to 7am for which he's paid $34. This amounts to $3.77 an hour, less than a third of the minimum adult wage of $12.50 an hour.

Mr Dickson is allowed to sleep during the shift but is frequently disturbed and often has to get up to provide support for the service users living in the community house.

In July the Employment Court ruled that being required to stay on the employer's premises during the night to support people with intellectual disabilities was "work" and should attract the minimum wage.

The court described the responsibilities he has during sleepovers as 'weighty' and 'critical to the business of the employer.'
This decision was appealed by IHC, the National Residential Intellectual Disability Providers, Business New Zealand and the Department of Labour.

They argued that the requirement to pay the adult minimum age of $12.50 an hour should be spread over every hour that a disability support worker is at work.

The Employment Court has rejected that argument in its latest decision. The court finds that "Mr Dickson was entitled to be paid not less than $12.50 for every hour he worked for Idea Services Limited, including the work done during sleepovers."
"This decision is another significant step in the battle for disability support workers to be a paid at least the adult minimum wage for the challenging work they do," says PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott. www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0912/S00053.htm

Sector Employment News - Aged Care

NZNO Disappointed with Health Select Committee

10 December - The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is disappointed that the health select committee has not chosen to undertake an inquiry, as proposed by MP Winnie Laban, into the quality and standards of care provided in residential aged care.

NZNO has made numerous requests of successive governments for mandated staffing levels, the implementation of comprehensive training specifications and training delivery for staff working in residential aged care. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0912/S00041.htm

Are rest home residents really safe?

17 December -- Rest homes audits alone can't guarantee vulnerable older people's safety; greater commitment to quality improvement and respect throughout the elder care sector is needed.

"The Auditor General's damning report shows that audits alone aren't going to keep older people safe," says Age Concern chief executive Ann Martin. "A culture of respect, caring and empowerment needs to flourish in rest homes. All rest home owners need to commit to recruiting, retaining, and properly training quality staff and to embrace a culture of continuous quality improvement and care."

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0912/S00067.htm

Skills for the Future of Social Wellbeing 2020 - Workforce Development Project for Social Services

Whanau ora, family-centred and community-building approaches will be the focus of workforce planning for social services in 2020. The workforce development project "Skills for the Future of Social Wellbeing 2020" is in its early stages, with a discussion paper due for distribution in April 2010.

Sector leaders have joined Te Kaiawhina Ahumahi, the Social Services Industry Training Organisation in initiating the project.
Wider involvement will be encouraged, including with the health and disability sectors.

Social services are moving towards integrated and holistic ways of working.

"It's clear that workforce strategies must reinforce these approaches. We'll be looking at the core competencies needed of organisations, workers and leadership as well as issues to do with professional development, recruitment and retention," said Dr Rory Truell, Social Services ITO chief executive.

For more information, please see the link:

www.socialservices.org.nz/sites/ssito.org.nz/files/workforce-development-project.pdf

Finance and Fundraising Haunt Not-for-Profits

Not-for-Profit organisations are becoming increasingly concerned about finance and fundraising, according to a nationwide survey by international accounting firm Grant Thornton.

Financing the organisation was identified by 72% of survey respondents as one of the three most significant issues they faced - up from 56% in 2007. Fundraising was also a key area of concern for 47% - up from 30% in 2007

These figures are the highest since the survey commenced in 2003. Other areas of significant concern are th.e role of the board in relation to governance, retaining and motivating staff and the managing and compliance costs of staff.

The retention and motivation of staff, which had been the biggest mover in the 2007 survey, dropped back to 2005 levels, again a direct reflection of the tightening job market.

The Grant Thornton Not-for-Profit survey was undertaken by 181 participants covering a wide cross section of not-for-profit organisations and geographic locations. Earlier surveys were completed in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0910/S00226.htm

Disability support provider network announced

Thursday December 3 marked the beginning of a sea change in New Zealand's disability support sector with the inception of the New Zealand Disability Support Network (or NZDSN). As the national representative body for New Zealand's disability support providers, NZDSN aims to develop and promote the capacity and capability of its members to partner with disabled people in better meeting their needs and aspirations.

To achieve this, NZDSN will initiate a dialogue with organisations representing people with disabilities (and their families) and work towards creating a unified voice which advocates, influences and lobbies in areas of common interest, and for greater awareness and action in addressing the goals of the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

The Network is scheduled to launch officially in March 2010, though an establishment board has made considerable headway developing an organisational structure, a governance model and a preliminary membership database of New Zealand's principal disability support providers.

www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0912/S00014.htm

Volunteer Managers Survey

Victoria University is undertaking a national survey of volunteer managers - anyone who has responsibility for managing or coordinating volunteers. This research will provide an important information base for Volunteering NZ and the whole volunteering community as it considers how best to progress the professional development of volunteer management within New Zealand.

Your support and encouragement to ensure a high degree of participation is vital. The deadline for responses is 31 January 2010. Click here for the survey.

Proposal to Change Definition of Serious Harm

Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson has announced a proposal to change the definition of 'serious harm' under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.

Serious harm is a pivotal definition in workplace health and safety legislation. The proposed definition will include physical injuries leading to an employee being unable to perform their normal duties for 10 or more calendar days. It will also include any permanent injuries, specified events such as electrocution or loss of consciousness, and diagnosed occupational illnesses.

Ms Wilkinson will introduce legislation to Parliament in the New Year to amend the Health and Safety in Employment Act.
www.beehive.govt.nz/release/proposal+change+definition+serious+harm

Have you registered or ordered software through TechSoup yet?

The NZ Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations, a Workplace Wellbeing Project partner, is the supporter and promoting organisation for TechSoup NZ.

Techsoup NZ is part of Microsoft's global software donation programme. There are over 240 products available from Microsoft. Qualifying charities only have to pay 4% of the normal retail value when they order. Don't miss this opportunity to update all your major software.

The NZ online accounting programme Xero has just been added to TechSoup NZ, which qualifying charities will get for 25% of the normal monthly fee. If you don't know about TechSoup NZ check out the website and register today.
www.techsoup.net.nz

A Conversation about Work in the Sector: Brenda Pilott, PSA

Michael Woodcock from the NZ Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations and Ros Rice, Executive Officer of the NZ Council of Social Services interview Brenda Pilott - PSA national secretary

MW: We thought that today we'd talk about the role of the PSA, because of course the community and voluntary sector is covered by two unions, the Service and Food Workers Union, and the Public Service Association. And if you're catching up with the news, you'll be aware that there's quite a lot of restructuring happening in the public sector, and that has a direct impact on the community sector.

So, we're going to talk about those impacts, and also the work that the PSA is doing in the sector and the campaigns that they are currently running. Brenda, maybe we can start with you telling us about yourself, and the PSA?

BP: Thanks, great to be here. I'm one of two national secretaries for the PSA. Myself and Richard Wagstaff are both the national secretary of the PSA, it's a combined and shared leadership model. My background - I've been at the PSA for five years, getting on towards six years actually.

Prior to that I was a public servant. I worked in the Department of Child Youth and Family Services, the Community Funding Agency, the Department of Social Welfare for eleven years. Before that, going back to the late 80s, early 90s I was one of two national coordinators for Women's Refuge.

Before that I used to work in local government. So I've got quite a broad background across all the areas where the PSA is active. We work in central and local government, and in the voluntary sector, so I've actually dipped my toes in all of those areas.

MW: Great. I'm just wondering, how do you see the role of the PSA in the community and voluntary sector, given that you've had experience in both the community and the public sector?

BP: Well I think there are two parts to it. First of all, of course, the PSA is part of the voluntary sector. We're a community organisation, we work with people who work in government, but we're a not for profit organisation, and so there are lots of things that are quite similar about us and not-for-profit organisations.

So we see ourselves as having some real similarities there. But of course the main thing for us is that we are a union that represents some 5,000 people who work in the not-for-profit sector. The largest group of these are in the disability area, but we also have people in other NGOS. We have, for example, members in community trusts that run museums, or radio stations, environmental organisations, some people working in the justice sector, in rehabilitation, and social services of course is the other big area.

But the disability sector is the main area where the PSA has membership. And I think the reason why the PSA moved into that area, you'd probably have to go back to the 80s and 90s, is that when the state sector was restructured, a number of functions that used to be carried out by the government were contracted out into the voluntary sector.

And so to some extent, the PSA followed the membership, so where we would've had people who would've been state service sector at one time, their work started to be delivered by not-for-profit organisations and many of them wanted to stay with the PSA. So it felt quite natural to us to extend our membership beyond what people think of when they think of the PSA.

RR: That's quite interesting because I have come across quite a lot of people who say 'oh, but the PSA is just for public servants.' And I used to be a member of the PSA when I worked in radio, and I was going 'no, no.' So the perception hasn't necessarily changed out there.

BP: No, and of course the title of the organisation would lead people to think, 'oh yes, public servants, people in suits, sitting at desks' when in fact our members are very diverse, we have significant membership in local government, across the wider state sector, we have members in the tertiary education sector, and of course the community and voluntary sector.

And we're a very big union in the health sector; we have large numbers of members working in the DHBs, and in the organisations that contract with them.

So, essentially, we would summarise our membership as people who work in the state, or work for organisations that are contracted by the state. So that sort of forms a coherence, really, about our membership.

MW: Yes. When you were talking I could see where those two edges met, and there is really a natural flow in terms of delivering service to community, whether that's through the state, or community organisations.

Why don't we just pick up on that, because currently, there are a lot of reviews going on within Health, MSD, and other government departments. We hear of staff being laid off, others not being replaced, I believe there are quite high numbers actually that aren't being replaced, and then that impacts directly on the community sector, particularly if it's front line services that are beginning to disappear.

So what's the picture at the moment, in terms of the people you represent, and that whole fluid change that's happening in government?

BP: Well we've lost about 2,000 jobs out of the public service, and the wider state sector this year that we know of.

RR: Gosh that's a lot.

BP: It is. The State Services Commission just last week released a report that showed there were 1400 jobs fewer than there were a year ago. And of course there have been more since that report came out. The figures stopped in June, I think.

We keep our own count, and we think at least 2,000 jobs have gone. Now the government said they were going to do that, so I guess no surprises in some respects, but I think the thing that is more difficult, in some ways, is that the government talks about cutting out bureaucrats.

I hate that word, it's a pejorative, and I feel very offended actually, by people using that term. But they talked about losing back office jobs, and people think 'well that's okay, that's just people sort of paper shuffling.'

RR: How many back office jobs are there really, it's a massive business, government?

BP: It's a nonsense category, actually. What is someone who answers the telephone? Is that a back office job? If they're putting people through to people, then maybe, but if they're answering questions, you know if you're a citizen, you phone up department X and say 'what are my entitlements to your services?'

The person who answers the phone is giving you information. And every organisation needs people who do the support functions, you can't operate without them. No business would try to operate that way. But I think it's focus group politics. I'm sure the government has done its polling and people have said "oh yeah, those bureaucrats, Paper shufflers, we don't care about those, but don't cut nurses, don't cut teachers."

MW: Well made I think, your point about the use of the term. It's demeaning of work, isn't it, in terms of employment... It's almost as if to say they're sucking something from others. When in fact they're contributing to the whole.

RR: My feeling too, I'm getting quite tired of hearing people say "all these bureaucrats making lots of money". Because the people that I meet, the people who are working behind the scenes, trying to put their political masters' ideas into practice are actually very hard working and really they are required. And the more I hear politicians knock them, the more I think they're going to have an uphill battle getting their policies in place because they don't have the people.

BP: And it's a fiction too, public service pay rates are reasonable, and they should be. People should earn a decent living. But they're certainly not up there with the likes of what government ministers earn.

So there are a couple of things: You rightly point out that those people whose job it is to understand, develop and implement government policy, that's one group of people.

And of course there's another whole group of people who support front line workers. I used to work in the department of Child Youth and Family Services, and we fought quite hard there to get people employed who could be support for social workers, so that social workers could concentrate on working with children and families and not be spending time doing administrative work.

Some of that was important stuff, finding foster care placements, finding clothing, arranging appointments. It's important stuff, but somebody else can do it.

So people carrying out the support work are vital to the front line effort. And of course, those 2,000 jobs are not just back office jobs. In fact they've begun cutting front line services. We see that there were 80 people fewer at Child Youth and Family, 44 fewer people in the prisons, now those are front line jobs.

And of course, we know from experience that when those services get cut, who's going to pick it up? Well, it's going to be the community organisations, and often the funding doesn't follow. For us, we think that it's soon going to be quite apparent that service cuts are happening, and that's going to put pressure on the community, and on the organisations that work in communities. As sure as night follows day, that's what's going to happen.

MW: Why don't we pick up on that point, I mean that's very interesting, there was a programme the other night about somebody who was in ACC care, had lost some of his 24 hour service, clearly wasn't getting service delivery, that was clearly because people had gone. Let's pick up on that point, because you're clearly running some campaigns. The track you've brought to us today is 'Get Up - Stand Up' by Bob Marley. What was important about that for you?

BP: It's a really good message about how we've all got rights, but you need to get up and stand up, people are going to take your rights away if you don't fight for them. A good message for people who are in unions, people who are active in their communities.

MW: 'Get Up, Stand up' that was a great choice, and I know you used it as kind of a backing sound bite on some of your campaign materials. We were just talking a bit off-air about the campaigns you've got coming up, so let's touch base about that, and why the community sector involvement is critical in terms of where the PSA is heading, and what it's trying to create awareness around.

BP: We started off running a campaign during the last, and to some extent the previous election, which was intended to highlight the value of public services, and to get people to think about how important public services are in their daily lives.

We decided we needed to keep that running as an ongoing feature, not something that just popped up every three years, not just the PSA saying "hey, don't cut our public services."

We felt that in order to do that properly, what we needed to do was engage with communities, so we could build and understand what kind of alliances we have with communities. As citizens, we all need our public services. We need to know that our water's safe and clean, that our kids can go to school safely, that we've got recourse to services when we need them.

We thought it was important to explore how we could work with communities to build up alliances to support our public services when they come under threat.

MW: Part of the rhetoric at the moment is about isolating people into groups. Of course, people who work in the public sector are volunteers in the community sector. People are embedded across communities really, both through their work, and where they live. In particular, what do you see that needs to happen in the community sector, in terms of creating awareness.

In the not-for-profit sector, there's something like 105,000 people in paid employment. You say that the PSA is concentrating a fair amount around the disabilities sector in terms of organising. I know the community sector is still pretty under-represented from a union point of view. So what are some of the things you're trying to get our sector, the community sector, to look at? One option is to become more collective in the way we do things?

BP: Well, there's a long way to go. Between the PSA and the Service and Food Workers Union we represent maybe 10% of the people who are employed in the sector. And people working in community and voluntary organisations have every right, as every worker does, to have decent pay and conditions, to have good employment practice where they work.

I think if we're all honest with ourselves we know that it isn't always the case in the community and voluntary sector. It's often I think not from bad intentions. If you look at the underlying issues, what creates some of the employment difficulties in the community and voluntary sector, you end up back at the level of government funding.

If you don't have enough funding as an organisation to be able to reward people fairly for the work they do, in a way that's consistent with people working in the for-profit sector, or the government sector, then you're always going to be struggling. If you haven't got enough money to invest in people's training and development, and skill building, capability building, you're not going to be a really good employer.

And we know very strongly from the disability sector that that is an area where the level of government funding is very low, it's tenuous. Many organisations don't know from one year to the next whether they will have funding and that has employment consequences.

So I think there are some areas where unions, ourselves and the SFWU, and the Council of Trade Unions, can join together with those who work in and run voluntary organisations, and look at how we can make joint approaches to ensure that we've got decent funding for our community sector.

Because if those functions are not going to be delivered by the state, if they're going to be delivered by community organisations, and there are many cases when that's the best type of delivery option, then we want them to be running well. We want to know that they're well-resourced, properly funded services, and we've got a shared interest in that.

So in a way that's the most obvious area where other unions, the PSA, and the community and voluntary sector can join forces.

MW: You're touching on some key issues there. A hot topic for the sector for a long time has been the nature of funding - the length of contracts, the complications of reporting in the sector, also that funding is often sporadic. A lot of people involved in the sector are employed on fixed term, rolled over agreements.

As things get dumped back down on the community sector for delivery, the only competition is around the dollars really. Given that the bulk of the expenditure for most community groups is around salary, the only point for competition when a contestable contract comes up is around people's pay and conditions.

National umbrella groups have an important role in all this. You're saying that rather than the traditional sense of the union movement, worker versus employer, it's really about how those groups can collectively challenge the current status quo through the government.

BP: That's right. And I think also in terms of employment practice there's the potential for unions and the voluntary sector to do things differently.

We know that many, if not most, community and voluntary sector organisations work in a collaborative, co-operative way, and we don't need to have an adversarial relationship.

We understand that voluntary organisations have a different ethos. We need to explore that in a combined way, we can't do that helpfully organisation by organisation, there are far too many small organisations but I think there is some real potential, if I may say, for some discussion between ourselves and the umbrella organisations to see whether there's some whole of sector approach that could be taken.

Certainly that MECA is one possibility, but there's also kind of frame work agreements that people can latch on to. There's a whole range of ways we can work together to see how we improve the community and voluntary sector as a place to work.

And I think we can work together, to make the community and voluntary sector a better funded, more robust, and more sustainable sector of our community, and of our economy. I think people often underestimate the important role that the community and voluntary sector plays in the economy of New Zealand.

MW: I agree. I think at the moment we probably run a bit of a risk that devolution of services back down to the community won't necessarily come with the money attached.

BP: That's right, at the end of the day, the talk is one thing, but if it doesn't come with the cold hard cash to do things properly, then it's just talk isn't it.

MW: Let's touch base on the issue of Auckland and the Super City. There are some big changes happening there. Maybe the vast majority of people who aren't in Auckland think "leave it to Auckland", but these principles are going to apply across other communities, and I guess some of the fears up there are about the money that is granted into the community sector, and what will happen with the new privatised model to that money, to those facilities.

What involvement does the PSA have in terms of current activity up there?

BP: We're knee deep in the Auckland transition, the bulk of the unionised workers in Auckland local government are in the PSA so we're very actively involved. We were meeting up in Auckland with our local government delegates last week, and the minister, Rodney Hide, came along and talked to people.

Clearly there is a privatisation agenda running alongside the amalgamation. The minister indicated that in his view there wasn't a plan for further amalgamations of local government, but it's hard not to think that amalgamation, and the privatisation that appears to go with it under the current model, is coming to some local authorities not too far from here in the not too distant future. I think amalgamation is one thing, it doesn't have to come accompanied by privatization.

However, with a National/Act government, and Act in the box seat, in terms of policy on local government, it's pretty clear that there's a strong Act agenda to privatise as much as possible. And Rodney Hide was quite open about that. He thinks the private sector can do things better, and if things can be delivered by the private sector then they should be.

We, of course, have a different view, and believe that the public sector and often the community and voluntary sector are often the appropriate sector to deliver things. So, it's quite an important battle ground, a contest of ideologies really I think, and local government is where a lot of that is playing out at the moment.

MW: What is happening is it's becoming a dialogue in communities. I live in the Wairarapa, and our MP, who's a National MP, is saying that we should amalgamate before it's done to us. All of these things are framed as you can save money on workers being laid off, which is people in your own community becoming unemployed.

BP: They're talking about core services - as if there were such a thing as core services, and then there's a bunch of other things that are frivolous. Arts and culture, social services, social housing, I'd be very concerned about all of those things, that are pretty important I suspect, certainly to the PSA, and I imagine to you and your listeners.

MW: They are indeed, and we're coming very close to the end of the programme, so I'm thinking a couple of things. I'm thinking that it's an opportunity to let people know how they get engaged with the PSA, I know you've got a really great website, so your website address is...

BP: www.psa.org.nz

MW: And you have organizers working in the sector, so if people want to talk to somebody about joining, how would they go about doing that.

BP: Well if they're working in an organisation in the community and voluntary sector and you're not currently in a union, we'd love to hear from you. We're not restricted to the disability area, we're interested in unionising as much of the voluntary sector, along with other unions, as we can. So it would be really good for people to get onto our website, and look at that, or give the PSA a ring on 0508 FOR PSA (367 772).

We're also looking at having a whole lot of meetings in communities to start to engage at community level, so look out for those coming to a community in your area soon.

MW: Great, thank you, Brenda, nice to have you along.

BP: Thank you.

www.accessradio.org.nz/collaborative_voices.html