ERA Releases Recommendations To Settle Te Roopu Taurima Dispute Due To Public Interest
The recommendations, made after four days of hearings with an independent ERA Facilitator involving Te Roopu Taurima and the PSA representing 38 workers, had been confidential.
However, the ERA has now released them as they are a matter of public interest, said Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.
The trust was seeking to unduly restrict secondary employment that many of the underpaid workers rely on, and to impose a 90-day trial period for new workers into the Collective Agreement.
The ERA recommendations include reference to the current salary for kaitaataki (leaders in the houses providing residential disability support) not having increased for two years. It recommends an increase from $70,500 to $74,000 from 31 May 2025 and an increase to $77,600 from 31 May 2026.
Other recommendations include:
- No 90-day trial or probationary period;
- Lump sum payments of $500 and $1200 over two years to reflect the bargaining period;
- The payments to be made for extra hours; and
- A process around secondary employment.
"The Authority has made the right call here in publicly releasing the recommendations that would settle the ongoing industrial dispute at Te Roopu Taurima. The parties are due to attend mediation in Auckland on Monday," said Fitzsimons.
"The PSA did not get everything we wanted in the ERA recommendations but we accept the work of the ERA and are confident the recommendations will settle the dispute.
"The recommendations from the ERA come after an ongoing industrial dispute that has involved strikes, a lockout, which the union is contesting in the Employment Court, a threatened suspension as well as the four days spent with the independent ERA facilitator.
Te Roopu Taurima Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau Trust is the country's largest provider of kaupapa Māori-based support for people with disabilities in residential facilities in Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Canterbury.
"Kaitaataki play a critical role in the work of Te Roopu Taurima including in looking after vulnerable tangata, they want to put this dispute behind them and get on with their work.
"We call on Te Roopu Taurima to immediately accept the recommendations of the Employment Relations Authority so that this dispute is settled," Fitzsimons said.
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