Source: Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi
The PSA welcomes the pause on the Government’s disruptive, poorly planned and expensive local government amalgamation process
Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi Assistant Secretary Tom Buckley said the Government’s chaotic approach created totally unrealistic time frames.
“The risk of the Government’s mad rush was that New Zealanders would be saddled with poorly thought through amalgamations that would take decades to unpick. That’s why the PSA had advocated for pausing the process,” Buckley said.
The amalgamation process was happening on top of a number of other significant local government reforms, include water, planning, regional council disestablishment and rates capping.
“The Government had unleashed a whole series of changes with no clear plan as to how it would all fit together,” Buckley said.
The PSA, which represents 13,000 local government workers across 78 councils, is calling for engagement with workers and union in the amalgamation process.
“The workers are the people who will need to implement these reforms and have the frontline experience to know how they can be made to work,” Buckley said.
“Local communities, who are currently cut of the process, need to be also given a voice,” Buckley said.
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.