Justice ministry staff return to striking

LATEST: The Ministry of Justice is "extremely disappointed" at the Public Service Association's (PSA) rejection of a pay offer, leading to continued industrial action.

Staff from courts and tribunals resumed strike action this morning for two hours over being paid 6.3 percent less than the rest of the public service, PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said.

Staff were also resuming a ban on overtime and would all take their breaks at the same time, rather than staggering them, disrupting services.

Mr Wagstaff said the cost of the PSA's proposed pay rises was "a small fraction of what the ministry has been claiming to mislead the public".

The PSA's offer to the ministry would have cost a total of $10 million, but that had been rejected as unaffordable.

The ministry offered a one-off lump sum payment of $750, which would have been about $500 in the hand after tax, Mr Wagstaff said.

"Clearly a one-off payment of $500 in the hand does not address the fact that justice staff pay rates are on average 6.3 percent lower than the rest of the public service."

General manager of higher courts, Andrew Hampton, said the ministry was disappointed the PSA refused to take its latest offer to its members to vote on, and had "issued statements that are grossly inaccurate".

Mr Hampton said the ministry had already paid $2 million in pay increases this year to staff in the bottom third of the pay scale.

The ministry's pay offer would deliver increases to more than 80 percent of staff in 2010, along with one-off payments to 78 percent of staff this year, Mr Hampton said.

There was "a reality to the current economic climate that the PSA refuses to accept", he said.

The ministry had left an offer open until December 4 for the PSA to put to its members.

Pay talks first stalled in October, and staff staged an all day strike on November 16.

- NZPA