Aquatic centre staff decline Rotorua Lakes Council meeting invitation

Rotorua Aquatic Centre. Photo/file

Rotorua Aquatic Centre staff have declined an invitation to meet with Rotorua Lakes Council managers, saying the council has "jumped the gun".

In a press release issued on Monday night, council chief executive Geoff Williams said he had convened a meeting of the centre staff consultative committee, which was to have been held on Monday. He said the purpose was to finalise a process to review options for the Aquatic Centre.

He said he was "extremely disappointed" staff declined.

"Representatives including the AWUNZ (Amalgamated Workers Union of New Zealand) union which represents some Aquatic Centre staff have failed to take an opportunity to represent staff views and that is very unfortunate," Williams said.

The council last week voted to "go back to the drawing board and properly consider all management options, including the staff proposal and development opportunities, for the Aquatic Centre", after originally opting to outsource management to Community Leisure Management.

Following last week's decision, council management drafted terms of reference for a proposed external review by what it described as an independent panel and circulated those to elected members and the union for feedback.

The panel is made up of Jamie Delich from Sport New Zealand and John McRae, partner with Deloittes and chairman of Rotorua Chamber of Commerce, Rotorua Community Youth Centre Trust and InfraCore.

AWUNZ regional organiser Robert Popata said the union contacted the council on Monday concerned management "jumped the gun" trying to convene the committee.

He said the union, which covered all but three employees at the Aquatic Centre, put a proposal to management that both parties do a stocktake of where things were and "start to rebuild trust".

Popata said the union was concerned the council would push through what the union believed was a "pre-determined" agenda.

Popata said in the union's view the council was stuck in the "outdated contracting-out-at-all-costs ideology" rather than listening to innovative ideas from its own staff.

He described Monday's scheduled meeting as a "continuation of flawed process".

Williams said there appeared to be "misunderstanding on the part of the staff representatives but in my view council made their expectations very clear last week".

"The recommendation was to reconsider all options which were already on the table, not to start work with the union and staff to co-create a staff management model.

"That will occur if council opts for a co-designed in-house management model but that decision has yet to be made and is not the process we have been asked to undertake at this time," Williams said.

Williams said it was important the matter be resolved quickly to give certainty to staff, ensure operational issues were addressed and to look at securing efficiency gains built into the long-term plan which was now out for consultation.

The consultative committee would be convened again once the council had received a report from the panel, Williams said.

He said aquatic centre staff representatives would receive the report and any feedback would be included as part of the report, which would be made to the Operations and Monitoring Committee on April 6.