| Restrictions | OK |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Employment Relations Authority - Christchurch |
| Reference No | CA 87/06 |
| Hearing date | 26 May 2006 |
| Determination date | 09 June 2006 |
| Member | P Cheyne |
| Representation | P Lawson ; S Hornsby-Geluk |
| Location | Christchurch |
| Parties | Southern Local Government Officers Union Inc v Christchurch City Council |
| Summary | DISPUTE - Urgent resolution required as parties to enter negotiations for new collective agreement - Interpretation of collective agreement in relation to two union members, (S") and ("D") - During negotiations for current collective employment agreement ("CEA"), respondent's chief executive ("CE") wrote letter to employees assuring remuneration would not be reduced - CEA contained changed working hours provisions - Respondent reduced S's hours from 40 to 37ï¾½, which were standard hours for employee - S's extra 2ï¾½ hours a week classified as overtime in CEA - Provisions initially gave S increased remuneration, but then remuneration reduced - Change to daily hours clause must refer only to when employee actually performs ordinary hours of work - Clause could not refer to overtime that was habitually worked - Respondent need not have S work 40 hours per week as the CEA overrode his earlier arrangement to work 40 ordinary hours - However, reduced remuneration was exactly what CE promised would not happen - Fell well short of good faith to make promises and not keep them - Remedy for this unclear - Parties to endeavour to resolve themselves in fair way in light of unequivocal promises made - D required to service different community board, which resulted in changes to his hours of work - Whether clause meant could be no change to hours of work without D's consent - D's ordinary hours were 7.5 per day - D bound to accept any new schedule of community boards - D's agreement not required before respondent could oblige him to work overtime - Question answered in favour of respondent - Contracts inspector and Community secretary" |
| Result | Orders accordingly ; Costs reserved |
| Statutes | ERA s162 |
| Cases Cited | ASTE v Chief Executive of Bay of Plenty Polytechnic [2002] 1 ERNZ 491;Northland Cooperative Dairy Company Ltd v The Northland Dairy Workers' Union Inc [1995] 2 ERNZ 201 |
| Number of Pages | 5 |
| PDF File Link: | ca 87_06.pdf [pdf 35 KB] |