PSA MEDIA RELEASE
September 11, 2009
For Immediate Use
Govt job loss figures confirm PSA estimate of public sector job losses

State Services Minister Tony Ryall is wrong when he accuses the Public Service Association of issuing misinformation about job cuts in the public service.

Mr Ryall announced yesterday that the government has cut 1402 jobs at government departments and five crown entities.

This morning Mr Ryall claimed on Radio New Zealand National’s Morning Report programme that the PSA had said in July “that the government had laid off 2000 staff.”

He added that the PSA are “people who are paid to sort of put this misinformation out there.”

“Mr Ryall is wrong,” says PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott.

“We have never said the government has made 2000 workers redundant. We’ve have always referred to jobs being cut in the public sector, not workers.”

“We estimate that about 2000 jobs have been cut and the figures issued by Mr Ryall confirm the accuracy of our estimate.”

“We’ve taken a broader view of the job losses than the government and have included 500 jobs being cut at NZ Post and 100 at TVNZ in our estimate.”

“That’s because we value the jobs of all public sector workers who provide services that benefit their fellow New Zealanders.”

“We also note that the government figures show there are 2390 vacant jobs at government departments and crown entities where the 1402 jobs have been cut.”

“But currently on the ‘jobs.govt.nz’ website there are only 165 job vacancies advertised by these departments and crown entities.”

“The reality is the vacancies are not being advertised. There’s a sinking lid policy which means staff are not being replaced and a shrinking number of public service workers are carrying a rising workload,” says Brenda Pilott.

ENDS

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