Source: Radio New Zealand
Police Association President Steve Watt says any indication that advocacy could result in punishment goes against good-faith bargaining. RNZ/ Phil Pennington
The president of the Police Association says he’s heard “anecdotally” of reports that staff have been threatened in regards to police’s code of conduct amid a police pay bargaining campaign.
Steve Watt said members had a right to be part of a union and to campaign for what they believed they deserved.
“Any indication that them advocating for what they deserve would result in punitive measures is really disappointing and goes against the good faith bargaining.”
It comes after police pay bargaining campaign stickers were put up inside the Dunedin Central police station, despite the district’s top cop telling staff not to.
On Wednesday, the association issued a press release which said that for the first time in its 90-year history it was driving a pay bargaining campaign that included “active and visible advocacy from a workforce that is legally forbidden to strike”.
- Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz
Bargaining starts on 1 May. The campaign slogan is “Repay the Risk”.
On Friday, RNZ was supplied a photo of a sticker with the slogan that had been put on a window in the Dunedin Central Police Station.
A day earlier the Southern District Commander Jason Guthrie emailed staff about a memo that had gone to staff about the bargaining campaign.
A ‘Repay the Risk’ campaign sticker inside the Dunedin Central Police Station. Supplied
He said it was clear that while staff could “advocate and engage with campaigning”, they could not “alter or diminish our professional standards throughout this period”.
This meant that any non-branded police material such as stickers and ribbons were not permitted on uniforms, or any police assets such as equipment, vehicles or buildings.
He said he was aware that campaign stickers had been placed in multiple locations in at least one station in the district. The stickers would be removed, he said.
“My expectation is that any other stickers on NZP assets (including but not limited to buildings, walls, doors, laptops, vehicles, uniforms) are also removed forthwith and do not reappear.”
In an interview with RNZ Watt said Guthrie’s email was “highly disappointing”.
“What we’ve got to remember is that we’re dealing with a workforce that cannot strike.
“They have very limited ability to express themselves when it comes to pay rounds, so an ability to do small things like put stickers on phones, put stickers on notebooks, wear wristbands is just a symbolic gesture that they’re supportive of you know their rights to participate in union activity so to stifle a workforce that can’t even strike to do just the basics of campaigning was really disappointing.”
The reaction from police so far suggested the campaign was “clearly having an impact”, Watt said.
The fact that police could not strike was “extremely prohibitive”, he added.
“When you think of other professions that are able to strike, it gives them a massive advantage when it comes to pay negotiations. So when it comes to police not being able to strike, that hampers them in a significant way. So to be able to participate in negotiations, albeit in a very constructive way, that is legally right, they should be able to do that.”
On Thursday morning, a memo was sent to staff on behalf of Assistant Commissioner Deployment Jeanette Park.
The memo, seen by RNZ, said police had always “positively engaged” with the service organisations and had a “long history” of supporting staff in being able to advocate their position.
“This does not change.”
Park said ahead of bargaining it was “important to remind you that our values continue to be front and centre of how we operate”.
“One of those values is professionalism: look the part, be the part which requires us all to maintain standards and present a professional image to ensure our communities have trust and confidence in us.
“Stickers, decals, ribbons, clasps, lanyards or other non-branded police material are not permitted on uniforms, or any police assets such as police vehicles, equipment, buildings, office spaces and noticeboards.”
Park said it was “essential for us to maintain our professionalism to ensure New Zealanders have trust and confidence in us”.
Watt told RNZ he was “extremely disappointed” to read Park’s memo.
“What we saw out of that … was a direct attack on the pay campaign and members ability to participate in that because the reality is is there are a number of other non-compliant stickers and badges that are accepted by police, but they’re specifically saying you can’t have anything that’s related to the pay round on police uniform or equipment.”
He said staff were “pretty enraged” with the memo.
“Staff are absolutely passionate about their involvement within this campaign, and they will continue to engage appropriately with the campaign and will participate actively.”
Watt said he spoke with Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier about the campaign.
“I was extremely collegial with him and explained that, look, it wasn’t a campaign that was designed to attack police or bring down the professional image of police.
“What we wanted to do was influence MPs, who essentially can influence the decision makers like Treasury and Public Service Commission in order to give the police a decent envelope when it comes to the pay round.”
He said he’d heard “anecdotally” reports that staff had been threatened in regards to the code of conduct.
“If that’s the case, it would be extremely disappointing at the end of the day, members have a right to be part of a union and to advocate for what they believe they deserve, and any indication that them advocating for what they deserve would result in punitive measures is really disappointing and goes against the good faith bargaining.”
He said members had been clear that they did not want to “degrade the professional nature of what they do” and said they would not be writing on cars or putting posters up in the front windows of stations.
“What they simply want to do is be able to express themselves and participate with, you know, what can be seen as professional engagement in a collective process to, you know, progress their pay and conditions.”
His message to staff was that they needed to “remain professional”.
“We will continue down a path in order to get the best outcome that we can for our members. We will continue to communicate and advocate on behalf of members in order to obtain or in order to get what is deserving for the risk that they are putting themselves at for policing,” he said.
“We’re not advocating for police staff to do anything that might get them in trouble. What we’re simply trying to do is get the best deal that we can for police … we don’t encourage staff to step outside the mark, to do anything that’s going to get them in trouble.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
