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PSA
New Zealand Public Service Association
Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi
Formation31 October 1913; 111 years ago (1913-10-31)[1]
TypeTrade union
HeadquartersWellington
Location
Membership90,000[2] (in 2024)
President
Benedict Ferguson[3]
AffiliationsNZCTU, IPANZ, Allied Health Aotearoa New Zealand, Tax Justice Aotearoa, PSI, UNI Global Union[4]
FundingMember subscription fees[5]
Websitewww.psa.org.nz Edit this at Wikidata

The Public Service Association (Māori: Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi), or PSA, is a democratic trade union with over 90,000 workers in the New Zealand public sector.

The stated aims of the PSA are to provide support for public and not-for-profit community services, support worker voices and participation though unions, ensure workplaces are free from discrimination, and advance the Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles of partnership, protection and participation, as they relate to the working lives of the union's members.[6]

The PSA is affiliated with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and Public Services International but is forbidden, by its own rules, from affiliating with political parties or organisations.[7]: Rule 8(2) 

History

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The New Zealand Public Service Association officially dates from 31 October 1913.[1]

Public servants were poorly paid and were often forced to take pay cuts when the economy stalled. In 1931, for example, all public servant salaries were cut by 10%. It was only loans from the Public Service Investment Society, set up by the PSA in 1928, that prevented many of them from falling into loan sharks. An overcrowded Wellington department was described by the PSA as "a compromise between a hot-house and a tin shed erected by amateur carpenters".[citation needed] With a change of government in 1936, a five-day working week for public servants was introduced.

In 1950, its membership was nearly 30,000. A major focus of the 1950s was discrimination against women. The PSA also passed the Government Service Equal Pay Act.

PSA members rally during a dispute with Housing New Zealand in 2010
A PSA rally in 2010 during a dispute with Housing New Zealand

In 1979, in response to a notice of strike action by electricity workers, the government introduced the Public Service Association Withdrawal of Recognition Bill. The bill would have given the government the power to seize all the assets of the union and vest them in the public trustee. In the face of mass protests and a PSA offer to submit the dispute to mediation, the government backed down and withdrew the bill.[citation needed] In 1987, the government introduced the State Sector Bill. PSA members held massive protest meetings and a national strike in 1988.[citation needed]

In the early 1990s, the Employment Contracts Act removed unions as legal entities, with restricted rights.[citation needed]

In the late 1990s, the PSA worked with the Government and State Services Commission to reassess and rebuild the public service. It developed the Partnership for Quality.[citation needed]

In 2000, the first Quality for Partnership Agreement was signed by the PSA and the government. Though the current government has chosen not to enter into a formal partnership with the PSA. In 2006, the union negotiated national pay rates for occupational groups in the health sector.[citation needed]

In 2010, the union negotiated a collective employment agreement for its 6,000 local government members in Auckland when eight councils and a large number of council-controlled organisations were amalgamated into a single Auckland council.[citation needed]

Governance

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Workplaces and sectors

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Each PSA member in a workplace pays a membership subscription fee.[8] Those fees provide the vast majority of the union's income.[5]

Workplaces are grouped into five sectors:

  • Public Service (Rātonga mahi ā te Kāwanatanga)
  • District Health Boards (Pōari Hauora ā Rohe)
  • State Sector (Rāngai Tūmatanui)
  • Local Government (Kāwanatanga-ā-Rohe)
  • Community Public Services (Rātonga Mahi ā Hāpori)[7]: Part 6 

Groups

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Members may also belong to national groups, and the following groups are represented on the union's committees:

  • Te Rūnanga o Ngā Toa Āwhina: for those who identify as Māori[7]: Part 7 
  • Pasefika Network: for those who identify as Pacific Island people[9]
  • PSA Youth: for those who are aged 35 and under

Meetings and committees

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Each workplace has an annual meeting.[7]: Part 4  The delegates form a workplace committee and then elect a convenor. Delegate committees have positions for Te Rūnanga o Ngā Toa Āwhina and Pasefika Network.

Having consulted their members, the delegates in a sector elect their peers to the sector committee. The delegates on each sector committee elect two co-convenors, at least one of whom must be a woman, and the committee includes delegates from Te Rūnanga o Ngā Toa Āwhina, Pasefika Network and PSA Youth.

Every two years, a national delegates' congress is held.[7]: Part 10  The current president, Benedict Ferguson, was elected in 2020.[3]

In between congresses, the executive board sets and oversees the implementation of policy.[7]: Part 8  The board includes the president and leaders of Te Rūnanga o Ngā Toa Āwhina, Pasefika Network and PSA Youth.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Roth 1987, p. 35.
  2. ^ "About the PSA". PSA. n.d. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Benedict Ferguson elected new PSA President". PSA. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Affiliations". PSA. n.d. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Annual Report 2020-2021" (PDF). PSA. n.d. p. 16. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  6. ^ "PSA Strategic Goals". PSA. n.d. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f National Delegates' Congress (2021). "Rules, Regulations & Sector Procedures". PSA. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Join the PSA". PSA. n.d. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Networks". PSA. n.d. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  10. ^ "New Year Honours 2021 - Citations for Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)". www.dpmc.govt.nz. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2024.

References

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  • Roth, Bert (1987). Remedy For Present Evils: A History of the New Zealand Public Service Association from 1890. PSA. ISBN 0-908798-00-8.
  • O'Connor, Mary Ellen (2013). The State and the Union: an Oral History of the PSA 1984-2012. PSA. ISBN 978-1-927242-05-6.

Books

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  • No Easy Victory: Towards equal pay for women in the government service, 1890–1960 by Margaret Corner
  • White-collar Radical:Dan Long and the rise of the white-collar unions by Mark Derby
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