By Joe Shaw
Workers have picketed outside the Christchurch wastewater treatment plant at the start of a five-day strike in a dispute over their conditions.
E tū union, which represents the workers, said Christchurch City Council tried to remove a provision giving lab technicians and maintenance workers at the Bromley plant the same terms and conditions as other council workers.
Treatment plant worker and union delegate Willie Nicholas said his colleagues were fed up.
"We want the council to honour the terms and conditions of the current agreement.
"The provision has been there for five years and the members are willing to fight for it."
E tū team leader Ross Heslop said the union had tried to reach a fair settlement for months, but the council rejected its proposal and instead offered workers $1000 for the provision in a "buy out".
"Maybe they're out of touch," he said.
"The clause is clearly quite valuable to our members and hence they were a little bit insulted by that initial offer."
The Bromley plant was badly damaged in a 2021 fire and now operates at 70% of its original capacity, while the council worked to replace two trickling filters with an activated sludge reactor system.
Heslop said union members were working under extremely difficult conditions, because of the plant's reduced capacity.
He said the strike action was about ensuring the small group of workers who still worked there were treated fairly and were not left behind.
"These people are really critical in terms of maintaining that plant," he said.
The city council said it was comfortable essential services would be maintained and disruption kept to a minimum during the strike, with contingency plans in place to ensure core operations continued.
"While the council recognises the right of E tū members to strike, the council is disappointed that the matter has escalated to strike action, as we understood that mediation had been left open and that both parties were still working towards an amicable agreement," they said.
The city council said the union requested a meeting with chief executive Mary Richardson last Friday.
"The CE communicated that she was happy to meet with the union, but it was not appropriate to do so when there is strike action in place," it said.
"She has suggested that they meet next week."
The council said it was happy to resume bargaining when the industrial action had finished.
