Public Service Association

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Template:Short description Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox organization

The Public Service Association (Template:Langx), or PSA, is a democratic trade union with over {{#statements:member count}} 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref name="Rules">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Rp

History

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

Though its origins go back to 1890, The New Zealand Public Service Association officially dates from 31 October 1913.Template:Sfn The early history of the PSA is one of resistance to cuts in public service pay and conditions. 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%.Template:Sfn Many public servants suffered acute hardship. It was only loans from the Public Service Investment Society, set up by the PSA in 1928, that prevented many of them falling into further financial difficulty.Template:Sfn Working conditions were sometimes poor and unhygienic. An overcrowded Wellington department was described by the PSA as "a compromise between a hot-house and a tin shed erected by amateur carpenters".Template:Citation needed

With a change of government in 1936, the PSA began to have some success with its advocacy for public servants. A five-day working week for public servants was introduced. Salaries were restored to 1931 levels, and public servants given the right to become politically involved.Template:Sfn

By mid-century, the PSA was a confident, energetic organisation. In 1950 membership was nearly 30,000, 83% of the total public service roll. A major focus of the 1950s was discrimination against women, which was built into the salary scales. By the end of the decade the PSA advocacy had borne fruit, with the passing of Government Service Equal Pay Act.Template:Sfn

By the 1970s the PSA was again in resistance mode as pressure came on public sector pay as a result of an economic downturn. It was a decade of political turbulence and industrial unrest. In 1979 the PSA faced the biggest crisis in its existence. In response to 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 of 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.Template:Sfn

The 1980s presented more challenges. Privatisation of state assets and the restructuring of the public service saw thousands of PSA members made redundant. In 1987 the Government introduced the State Sector Bill which would have taken away most of the current conditions of employment.Template:Sfn PSA members held massive protest meetings and a national strike in 1988. This ensured all current conditions were saved.Template:Sfn

The early 1990s saw further attacks on unions. The Employment Contracts Act removed unions as a legal entity; unions were now called bargaining agents with very restricted rights.Template:Sfn In the late 1990s, the PSA began looking at ways to break out of the negative relationships which were so common in the workplace at that time. It worked with the Government and State Services Commission to reassess and rebuild a public service decimated by a decade of economic reforms. It developed a new strategy, Partnership for Quality, which sought constructive engagement with government and employers.Template:Sfn

In 2000, the first Quality for Partnership Agreement was signed by the PSA and the Government.Template:Sfn In 2006 the union negotiated national pay rates for occupational groups in the health sector and has been successful in breaking the de facto wage freeze imposed on the public service with wage settlements in a number of large departments.Template:Sfn

In 2010 the union successfully 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.Template:Sfn

Despite continuous cuts and restructuring in the public sector and legislation aimed at reducing the effectiveness of unions, PSA membership continues to grow, particularly in community-based services.

Governance

Workplaces and sectors

Each PSA member in a workplace pays a membership subscription fee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Those fees provide the vast majority of the union's income.<ref name="funding" />

Workplaces are grouped into five sectors:

Groups

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<ref name="Rules" />Template:Rp
  • Pasefika Network: for those who identify as Pacific Island people<ref>Template:Cite web

</ref>

  • PSA Youth: for those who are aged 35 and under

Meetings and committees

Each workplace has an annual meeting.<ref name="Rules" />Template:Rp 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.<ref name="Rules" />Template:Rp The current president, Benedict Ferguson, was elected in 2020.<ref name="president">Template:Cite web</ref>

In between congresses, the executive board sets and oversees the implementation of policy.<ref name="Rules" />Template:Rp The board includes the president and leaders of Te Rūnanga o Ngā Toa Āwhina, Pasefika Network and PSA Youth.

Office Holders

Below is a list of office holders in the PSA:Template:Sfn

Presidents
Name Term
1 John William Macdonald 1913 1916
2 George Allport 1916 1919
3 Bill Wright 1919 1922
4 Roy Sinel 1922 1925
5 H W C Mackintosh 1925 1926
6 J H McKay 1926 1928
7 Alfred Burgess 1928 1934
8 S Roberts 1934 1936
9 Thomas Pound 1936 1943
10 Bert O'Keefe 1943 1945
11 Jack Hunn 1945 1946
12 Jack Lewin 1946 1951
13 John Henry Tuohy 1951 1954
14 M T Mitchell 1954 1956
15 J T Ferguson 1956 1958
16 Dan Long 1958 1960
17 Jack Batt 1960 1964
18 G H Sorrell 1964 1965
19 Barry Tucker 1965 1968
20 Ray Hannan 1968 1970
21 Stan Rodger 1970 1973
(17) Jack Batt 1973 1974
22 Jim Turner 1974 1978
23 David Thorp 1978 1982
24 Colin Hicks 1983 1988
25 Sue Piper 1988 1992
26 Graham Curtis 1992 1993
27 Huki Nepia 1993
28 D J Scott 1993 1994
29 Tony Simpson 1994 1997
30 Ian Bamber 1997
31 Na Raihania 1997 1998
32 Kathy Higgins 1998 1999
(30) Ian Bamber 1999 2004
33 Keith Gutsell 2004 2008
34 Paula Scholes 2009 2012
35 Mike Tana 2012 2016
36 Janet Quigley 2016 2021
37 Benedict Ferguson 2021 2024
38 Virgil Iraia 2024 present
General Secretaries

Names in italics indicate acting General Secretaries

Name Term
1 Frank Millar 1913 1944
- S H B Symons 1944 1945
2 John Turnbull 1945 1961
3 Dan Long 1961 1976
- M T Mitchell 1976
4 Barry Tucker 1976 1985
5 Colin Clark 1985 1991
6 David Thorp 1991 1999

In 1999 the PSA changed its constitution replacing the general secretary position with three national secretaries.Template:Sfn

Notable members

Notes

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References

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Books

  • 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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