Spokesperson responds to union push to prevent wage deductions from employees working to rule for month
The New Zealand Ministry of Education has maintained that it remains compliant with the law amid a union injunction aimed at preventing pay deductions for workers participating in partial strike action.
The injunction, filed by the NZEI Te Riu Roa, comes after a recently passed law that reinstates the option for employers to deduct 10% of partial strike participants' wages.
The Education Ministry has already deducted 10% of specialists' pay for a two-hour strike that they held on July 22, according to the NZEI Te Riu Roa.
The union's court injunction now wants to stop the ministry from further docking pay from field staff and service managers who voted for a month-long partial strike starting July 23.
"It is an overreach for the Ministry to dock 10% of specialists' pay for a month when we are doing our contracted hours," said Conor Fraser, a speech language therapist and member of the NZEI Te Riu Roa governance group, in a statement.
"The law is clear that employers should not dock pay when a strike involves a refusal to work overtime."
Partial strike action
Under the partial strike action, field staff will only work a maximum of 7.6 hours a day and 38 hours per week, and will not take on any new cases.
Service managers will also refuse to work more than eight hours a day and 40 hours a week, and will stop assessing requests for support.
According to the union, members voted for the partial strike to draw attention to long waiting lists for children, a shortage of specialist staff, and the excessive overtime being undertaken to cover the gaps.
Compliant with the law
Rob Campbell, Acting Leader (Hautū) Corporate at the Education Ministry, said the deductions will only be for employees whose union formally notified the ministry of the strike action.
"We want to reassure parents and the wider education sector that we are acting in accordance with the legislation governing partial strike action," Campbell told HRD in a statement.
"Deductions are being made only in relation to field staff and service managers whose union has formally notified the Ministry of a ban on undertaking any work on new cases."
Both parties are currently in urgent mediation, according to Campbell, with the ministry underscoring its commitment to reaching a fair solution.
"Our priority remains the uninterrupted delivery of support to children and young people," Campbell said. "We value the critical work our staff do, and the Ministry is doing everything it can to minimise the impact of industrial action on our most vulnerable students."
