PSA cash worries unionist

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Unionists who have split from the Public Service Association share the concern - if not the ideology - of Opposition MPs critical of lump-sum payments to PSA members.

The 1700-member National Union of Public Employees says it is not about to provide Act finance spokesman Rodney Hide and his National counterpart, Don Brash, with a disgruntled public servant prepared to challenge the payments in court.

But union secretary Nadine Marshall raised concerns yesterday that some Government departments may be diverting money needed to lift wages and conditions into one-off incentives for unions involved in exclusive partnership deals.

An example was Inland Revenue, where her union had offered to develop a constructive relationship with the department but had been denied cash payments made to 2155 PSA members.

Staff who were PSA members before June 30 last year received $800 before tax, and others who joined before July 15 were given $300.

The MPs have subsequently uncovered information, confirmed by the State Services Commission, that seven other Government departments have given preferential deals to union members, at a combined cost of more than $5 million.

The MPs are looking for a plaintiff to challenge the practice, claiming the departments are misusing taxpayers' money as bribes for public servants to join unions.

This follows advice by Auditor-General Kevin Grady to Dr Brash that the courts have yet to test the relationship between two subsections of the Employment Relations Act. One says workers should not receive preferential treatment just because they are or are not union members, but the other says this provision will not be breached simply because an employee's conditions are different from those of others in the same organisation.

Commission bargaining rules allow lump-sum payments "in recognition of identifiable benefits arising out of the collective relationship with a particular union".

About 1150 union members in the Conservation Department are voting this week on a collective agreement that includes payments of $1137 each over three years in recognition of the perceived value of a management-union partnership.

The department is the eighth Government employer to offer preferential treatment to unionists, although its deal will cover the Amalgamated Workers' Union as well as the PSA.

Ms Marshall said a "partnership for quality" pact between the PSA and State Services Minister Trevor Mallard was stopping her union from forging relationships with departments.