Source: PSA
Loyal, long-serving workers at MBIE’s Tenancy Bond Services are feeling betrayed by plans to axe their entire team, despite being promised at the start of the automation project that there would be no job losses.
MBIE is proposing to disestablish 28 permanent roles with two new permanent roles created resulting in a net loss of 26 roles. 12 fixed term roles have already finished, with two new fixed roles to be created.
“These workers were told point blank when the automation project began that their jobs were safe. They kept the service running while the new system was being built around them, and now they’re being thrown on the scrap heap of unemployment when they have more to give. It’s a betrayal,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“How can you get buy in for automation projects from workers critical to any digital transformation when they are treated this way?”
The Tenancy Bond Modernisation Programme will shift more than 500,000 tenancy bond transactions each year from a manual, paper heavy process to a streamlined, self-service, digital experience for landlords, property managers and tenants.
Most workers will be gone by early July, with the remainder out the door by October. Consultation with staff is now underway with final decisions due to be announced 14 May.
The people impacted are tenancy bond officers, and operations and administration staff, some with decades of experience, having spent their entire working lives in Tenancy Bond Services.
“This is not how you treat people who have given decades of dedicated service. They cooperated with this project in good faith because they were told their jobs were secure. MBIE has broken that promise.
“The idea that a three-month transition with just five staff is enough to transfer decades of knowledge and experience is fantasy. MBIE is setting this up to fail.
“There are already long wait times for tenants and landlords dealing with bonds. MBIE’s own documents admit they expect a spike of more than 20 percent in calls and enquiries when the new system goes live. How will there be enough staff to handle that when the people who know the system have been shown the door?
“Staff have serious concerns the automation is not ready. Pushing ahead regardless, while planning to sack the very people who could keep things running, is reckless.
“Staff also worry that some communities facing barriers to digital access will be disadvantaged by a fully automated system.
“The PSA does not stand in the way of progress, but we won’t stand by while workers are misled. These people deserve better. They deserve the jobs they were promised, or at the very least genuine redeployment pathways, not empty words and a march to the exit,” Fitzsimons said.
The PSA is calling on MBIE to honour the commitment made to staff, extend the transition period, and provide meaningful redeployment opportunities for affected workers.
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand's largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.