Mediation is set to resume with disability support provider Te Roopu Taurima and the PSA following the withdrawal of a lockout and suspension of workers without pay by the employer, the PSA in return agreed to lift the strike notices. Matthew Tukaki speaks to Merepeka Raukawa Tait.
The PSA is calling on the country’s largest kaupapa Māori community disability provider Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau Trust to accept an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) Facilitator’s recommendation to settle a collective agreement.
Te Roopu Taurima operates residential whare in Te Tai Tokerau/Northland, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Waikato, Waitaha/Canterbury, and a residential mental health whare in Whangārei.
Following 11 days of bargaining and four days in ERA facilitation, Te Roopu Taurima is yet to agree to the Facilitators’ recommendations to settle the collective agreement for its Kaitaataki and Poutaakai staff members, says Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi National Secretary Kerry Davies.
Kaitaataki and Poutaaki are the leaders in disability residential whare and are key to ensuring tangata receive the best support to enable good lives.
“Kaitaataki and Poutaataki continue to be subject to a lockout of additional hours, despite how this can affect tangata, kaiawhina (support workers they lead) and their own whānau,” Davies says.
