Front-line local government staff in Auckland will be safe for now under the proposed super city, but staff in strategy, policy and planning could face redundancy.
Staffing plans were made public today in a discussion document released by the Auckland Transition Agency (ATA), the body set up to manage Auckland's transition to a one-council structure by November next year.
The ATA said it did not intend generally to review staff whose jobs were specific to community facilities such as libraries, parks and recreational facilities.
It also did not plan to review staff whose jobs were specific to operational work in community services such as housing, community development, youth work, safety initiatives, local events and infrastructure services.
Staff who generally deal with customers would also generally stay where they are, the document said.
However, it said "staff whose primary functions relate to strategy, policy and planning are likely to be involved in significant change as these functions will generally be centralised".
Redundancies would generally happen only if the restructuring produced a duplication of responsibility.
"This is most likely an issue at supervisory/management and administrative support levels," it said.
The Public Service Association, which has 2600 members working in Auckland's eight local authorities and council controlled organisations, said the ATA had recognised the importance of retaining local government staff in the transition to the super city.
"Aucklanders rely on their local government workers to provide a wide range of services like clean water, reliable roads, rubbish and waste water removal, libraries, parks and other recreational facilities," PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said.
"We're pleased the agency has listened to us and the document its released today reflects the need to retain Auckland's local government workers to maintain the delivery of vital services to Aucklanders.
"Now what's needed is the Government to pass legislation to support the proposals and processes put out today by the Auckland Transition Agency.
"We also want to see these principles applied to workers employed by council-control organisations."
The document also included a draft organisational structure and a description of protocols and processes to be applied during the transition.
