ACT coming after requirements for the public service to
be a good employer says everything about the party’s real
agenda, putting more power in the hands of employers and
undermining public services.
The policy announced
today aims to remove Section 73 of the Public Service Act,
which requires the chief executives of Government
departments to operate an employment policy that complies
‘with the principle of being a good employer’. It also wants
to remove all spiritual and cultural obligations, and put
into law the requirement for public services to be delivered
based on need, not race.
“ACT wants to make the public
service worse, not better and continue its destructive
campaign to further erode the rights of workers,” said Fleur
Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service
Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“Remember
ACT has been part of a government which has spent three
years attacking workers, scrapping pay equity, bringing in
fire-at-will, and making dangerous changes to health and
safety. There’s a pattern here, and it’s not good for
workers, let alone the delivery of public
services.
“The policy behind the good employer
provisions is that the Government should be an exemplar
employer. It’s supposed to show the country what good looks
like, not race to the bottom.
“ACT wants to remove the
requirement for fair and proper treatment from the public
service, and they’ve made clear they don’t agree with it for
private employers either. This isn’t really about quality
public services or neutrality, it’s about ACT’s discomfort
with employers having any obligation to treat their people
fairly at all.”
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The PSA says a public service that
reflects the community it serves, including its diversity,
is part of what makes it effective and legitimate, not a
problem to be legislated away.
“A public service
should look like New Zealand. That’s not social engineering,
that’s just good sense if you want an organisation that
understands and can respond to the people it’s there to
serve,” Fitzsimons said.
“And let’s be clear about
how racist this reset really is. Removing the ability for
public servants to observe cultural and spiritual practices,
on top of pushing ‘need not race’ into law, is part of the
continued attack on Māori in the public service and the
policies to improve outcomes for Māori.
“We all know
what this is all about. It’s part of a wider ACT agenda to
run down public services, so they can be wound back and
readied for privatisation. Weaken the workforce, weaken the
service, then say it isn’t working.
“Come 7 November,
we will be urging voters to change the Government and stop
this racist, divisive agenda. We need a new government that
protects public services and ensure they deliver to the
needs of New
Zealanders.”
