KEY POINTS:
Thousands of council workers are concerned about what will happen to their jobs in any shake-up of local government in Auckland, says the Public Service Association.
The PSA yesterday urged the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance to involve unions at the outset in any changes that
might occur to rationalise the seven councils and regional council.
At a series of public hearings throughout Auckland, a consensus is building for a strengthened regional body to replace the Auckland Regional Council.
But the commission is questioning the current three-tier system of the Auckland Regional Council, councils and community boards and is probing submitters' views on a two-tier model of a regional body and strengthened community boards.
The PSA's national secretary, Richard Wagstaff, said the union would not expect any job losses as a result of change, and working conditions must be maintained or improved.
The PSA is the largest union representing council workers, with about 2000 members among the 6300 council staff in Auckland.
It also represents 266 staff of council-controlled organisations, such as water companies, Manukau Leisure Services and Auckland Museum.
Manukau City Council delegate Dena Gilmore said PSA members had no idea what was coming in the way of change. People were worried about their future, and were putting less into their jobs or looking for alternative employment.
She said the commission should follow a model used on recent council amalgamation in Queensland where unions were involved in the transition process, a staff support package was created and there were no forced redundancies for three years.
Mr Wagstaff said local government had skill shortages in areas such as engineering.
Ways needed to be found to lift skill levels, recruit and retain staff, otherwise people would leave and come back to councils as highly paid consultants.
Waitakere City Council delegate Kitch Cuthbert gave one example of the council bringing arborists from Britain on a two-year contract.
Once the contract was over, the arborists left and set up a consultancy working back to the council, she said.
One of the commissioners, David Shand, wondered if council staff and consultants had the skills to effectively run a new regional authority.
The commission started three days of hearings in Manukau yesterday. The Manukau City Council, which is proposing amalgamating the seven councils into three cities - northern, central and southern - under a three-tier system, will be the last submitter tomorrow.
The council's proposal was supported by the Mangere and Manurewa community boards yesterday.
Commission chairman Peter Salmon, QC, took the opportunity to pepper Manurewa board chairman Michael Bailey with questions on the Manukau proposal, the role of community boards, and the merits of a two-tier system.
Mr Bailey said he supported having three cities because creating a single city would make governance more remote from the people.
The community board, he said, had good relations with the council, but it existed largely at the whim of the council.
Mr Salmon asked Mr Bailey if he was aware of the Auckland Regional Council's two-tier proposal for a regional body and 20 or 30 community councils.
Said Mr Bailey: "That would be quite an exciting prospect."