Court workers walk off job

A number of Justice Ministry staff walked off the job today for the second time this week over stalled pay talks.

The 1750 Public Service Association members who work at courts and tribunals around the country staged the one-hour strike at 10.10am.

They began a work to rule regime last week and went on strike for an hour on Tuesday morning.

The ministry paid its staff 6.3 per cent below the median pay rate for the public service and would not negotiate their pay, said PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff.

The union had not asked for a specific amount as a pay claim but sought to address the pay gap, he said.

When the staff walked out on Tuesday, the ministry's general manager district courts, Tony Fisher, said "a realistic offer" had been made to the union, but it had declined to take to its members for ratification.

"The ministry has offered performance-based pay increases for staff effective from 1 July, 2010. Our preference is to reward performance, not time in the job."

Mr Wagstaff said the offer was inadequate and had been rejected by the staff.

The ministry wanted to resolve the dispute but could not afford to pay what the union was seeking, Mr Fisher said.

- NZPA