Water workers on strike

Workers at New Plymouth District Council who look after the region's water and wastewater services are on indefinite strike after pay negotiations broke down.

Council management staff, who are operating the plants during the action, were greeted with placards waved by picketing union employees as they arrived for work yesterday.

The workers, who are seeking a 10 per cent pay rise, are infuriated that the district councillors recently received a rise in salary of almost 10 per cent, yet they have been offered much less than that.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union Taranaki lead organiser Alan Gardner told the Taranaki Daily News giving councillors a higher percentage pay rise than the workers was a case of hypocrisy.

Council chief executive Rodger Kerr-Newell said the last offer on the table was a 5 per cent increase this year and a 3 per cent increase next year.

He believed that was a fair offer and was slightly more than what other like-service workers were receiving.

- NZPA