Justice staff walk off job

Ministry of Justice staff around the country walked off the job this morning in the most substantial move since industrial action began over a pay dispute.

The union members, who belong to the Public Service Association, left their work stations at 10am and will stay out for the rest of the day.

"Our members will not accept being paid less than rest of the public service for running something as essential as our justice system," PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said.

"Nor will we continue to accept the ministry's unjust pay system that's responsible for their underpayment."

Today's industrial action is the fifth for the staff since stalled pay talks last month, but the previous strikes had been for only one or two hours.

"Striking for a day is an escalation of their action and shows how determined to PSA members are to have a fair pay system and to bridge their pay gap with the rest of the public service," Mr Wagstaff said.

The workers were paid 6.3 per cent below the pay median for the public service, with 1200 court registry officers paid 9.25 per cent below the public service median, he said.

The Justice Ministry said it remained committed to resolving industrial action in a way that was affordable and fair.

"We have made a realistic offer to increase staff pay based on performance, rather than time in the job or across the board increases not related to performance," ministry general manager higher courts Andrew Hampton said.

"The bottom line is that the ministry cannot afford the current PSA claim. The ministry has made the best offer it can in the current environment, and continues to favour a pay system that rewards performance, not time in the job."

Mr Hampton said the ministry was working hard to minimise the disruption to court users due to the industrial action, but some impact was inevitable.

"We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate court users' patience and understanding while this is resolved.

"The ministry believes the best way to make progress is to get back around the table, and invites the PSA to do so. The ministry would expect industrial action to cease for that to happen," Mr Hampton said.

- NZPA