Court workers in Masterton walked off the job yesterday and stood an hour in the pouring rain to protest an ongoing pay freeze.
"The weather's not for us or against us, it's just the weather. But the government say there's no money and we should just be grateful to have a job," Masterton District Court deputy registrar Tracey Morgan said yesterday.
Ms Morgan was speaking yesterday during the first work stoppage in a series of random one-hour strikes planned in nationwide Public Service Association (PSA) protest against an ongoing pay freeze after talks stalled last week with the Ministry of Justice.
The 12 unionised Masterton court workers will continue to walk off the job unannounced and picket for an hour at random, she said, after starting the day armed with winter coats and umbrellas for an hour in the wild weather.
"We're fighting for what we believe in - fair pay," Ms Morgan said.
PSA union delegate and Masterton court worker Colin MacLachlan said the ministry had not yet responded to any of the workers' claims.
"We have been negotiating for three and a half months with little movement," he said.
He said PSA members are dissatisfied with the current pay system that is paying court workers less than any other workers in the public service sector.
Mr MacLachlan said court workers often have to work unpaid overtime just to keep the court system running smoothly.
Ms Morgan said court work requires far more than people may realise.
"There's just so much that happens apart from just criminal matters - disputes, tenancy, civil, car confiscations, family - and a lot of the people who come through are at crisis point while we're trying to make things as smooth as possible for them all.
"Our workloads are getting bigger and a pay freeze just puts us in crisis. Then what help can we be to anybody at all? We are fighting for what we believe in," she said.
Ms Morgan said the inclusion of the word "affordability" in their contracts has made pay negotiations difficult and that people attending court yesterday were supportive of the cause.
"They weren't too perturbed at having to wait around for an hour," she said.
Pay freeze protest despite wintry weather
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.