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Speaker 1: So the PSA is taking the ACC to the EERA,

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Speaker 1: that's the Employment Relations Authority. They claim they've been blindsided

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Speaker 1: over new work from home rules ACC Todd staff. They

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Speaker 1: now need to be in the office three days a week,

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Speaker 1: that's up from two. And the union's here is they

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Speaker 1: got less than one hour's notice of the change. So

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Speaker 1: PSA National Secretary Flirfit Simons is joining me. Now, come

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Speaker 1: on in to your flir.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Andrew.

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Speaker 1: What's the case you're taking.

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Speaker 2: Really, what we're asking the Employments Authority to do is

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Speaker 2: to suspend the new role and instead engage in some

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Speaker 2: proper consultation with ACC staff with an open mind, because

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Speaker 2: many people have planned their whole lives around their current

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Speaker 2: working from home arrangements. And we've got a provision in

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Speaker 2: the employment agreement that says they meant to talk to

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Speaker 2: us before they make changes, just not announce them to staff.

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Speaker 1: Why should they get these rights because a lot of people,

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Speaker 1: and I'm seeing this happening already on our text, a

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Speaker 1: lot of people would say that working three days in

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Speaker 1: an office is not a hard ask.

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Speaker 2: Well, actually, what many people at ACC did is they

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Speaker 2: we saw the jobs that they've currently got advertised, and

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Speaker 2: when they were advertised, they said three days working from home.

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Speaker 2: So people applied for these jobs changed roles and now

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Speaker 2: they feel really deceived and consider it sort of false advertising.

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Speaker 2: But actually, when you can work from home, and when

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Speaker 2: it can work for you and your employer, it can

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Speaker 2: be a very good thing. It can improve productivity, it

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Speaker 2: can mean better concentration, and we know that it does

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Speaker 2: improve staff morale as well.

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Speaker 1: But shouldn't the employer get the right to choose the

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Speaker 1: best way to improve productivity? And if they believe it's

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Speaker 1: from working in the office three days a week, that's

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Speaker 1: the way, why shouldn't they have that right.

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Speaker 2: Well, the reality is they agreed a provision in the

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Speaker 2: contract with us which says that they will consult with

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Speaker 2: staff on proposed policy changes, and then they recruited all

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Speaker 2: these workers on the basis that they could work from

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Speaker 2: home like that. So they're feeling really cheated and misled.

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Speaker 1: So, if you got together and you had a bit

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Speaker 1: of a negotiation and they gave you more notice than

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Speaker 1: one hour, thing was I was a bit rough. But

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Speaker 1: if you got together had a bit of a chat

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Speaker 1: about it, is three days a week really such a

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Speaker 1: hard ask?

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Speaker 2: Well, there's two elements really. The first one is they

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Speaker 2: do need to talk to us. We will listen and

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Speaker 2: we expect them to listen to staff. Then there's another element,

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Speaker 2: which is that staff do have this agreed commitment that's

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Speaker 2: been made to them. Now, employers in New Zealand can't

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Speaker 2: simply change contractual commitments. They need to agree them with

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Speaker 2: the worker. So there's sort of two elements to it really,

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Speaker 2: and we're asking the Employment Relations Authority to tal ACC

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Speaker 2: that they need to listen. It's pretty unfortunate it's come

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Speaker 2: to that we shouldn't need to tell an employer through

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Speaker 2: legal action that they need to listen to their staff

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Speaker 2: before they make it a decision.

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Speaker 1: But there we are, all right, Flair, I thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for your time this Monday morning. Flir fitz

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Speaker 1: Simons as the PSA National Secretary. For more from earlier

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