Justice staff go on strike

Ministry of Justice staff at courts, tribunals and other ministry worksites throughout the country have gone on strike for 23 hours.

The workers, members of the Public Service Association, walked off the job at 11am today and will not return to work until 10am tomorrow.

Their action came as part of a long-standing pay dispute.

"We're extremely disappointed the ministry has not been prepared to resume formal negotiations on a sound basis, given the fact the Employment Court has ruled that negotiations are not over and should resume," PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said.

On Thursday Chief Employment Court Judge Graham Colgan ruled that "at this stage the collective bargaining has not ended".

He said it was important that the parties now get back into bargaining.

The row has been brewing since May last year and the PSA's 1700 ministry employees began taking industrial action in October.

Mr Wagstaff said members across the country had voted overwhelmingly to escalate the industrial action in support of a fair settlement.

The action was closing courts, forcing trials and hearings to be adjourned, backing up cases and disrupting other Ministry of Justice work around the country.

"Ministry of Justice staff receive are paid on average 6.9 per cent less than workers in the rest of the public service," Mr Wagstaff said.

"They'll continue to strike and take other action until the ministry agrees to sit down and negotiate a fair pay settlement that all parties can live with."

- NZPA