Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Oranga Tamariki social workers say they are living with the constant fear that a child could be harmed on their watch due to their overwhelming workloads as they begin industrial action today.
One care and protection social worker with Tamariki and Whānau Services said it was terrible knowing that "you can't get to everyone".
"The worst part is waking at 4am every morning so that your caseload can run laps around your head and the thought that something really bad could happen to a child because you didn't have the capacity to get to them."
The Public Service Association, which represents 2800 staff, said the zero percent pay offer from the child protection agency was "insulting" and would do nothing to fix unsafe workloads.
Social workers, supervisors, kairaranga, youth workers, support staff and others will take part in industrial action over the next seven weeks.
From 5pm Friday, there is a ban on all unpaid work, and paid over-time (including being on call), with a two-hour strike planned for 7 March.
The union's national secretary, Fleur Fitzsimons, said Oranga Tamariki was effectively offering "a pay cut" in real terms, and failing to ensure workloads were safe and manageable.
"It's unfair and incredibly damaging to the morale of workers carrying out such a vital role."
In bargaining for a new collective agreement, Oranga Tamariki had offered small lump sum payments, no salary increases and provided no solutions to long standing and growing workload management issues, she said.
Furthermore, staff proposals for the agency to meet its obligations to Māori were "unresolved".
"Staff are burning out while the need to support tamariki, rangatahi, and whānau is not going away.
"Decades of reviews and inquiries have consistently identified high staff workloads as a barrier to Oranga Tamariki consistently delivering on its purpose. The Government's reckless spending cuts have seen Oranga Tamariki lose over 400 workers, meaning those remaining must shoulder even higher workloads."
No lunch break in five years - social worker
A supervisor with Tamariki and Whānau Services said it was usual to work extra hours at home on a regular basis just to get through the work.
"I feel like an absolute fraud. I have to support my social workers to have a work/life balance, but I can't offer them anything meaningful to help them with this. I tell them to go home or turn their phones off to look after themselves, then I spend extra hours after work and at home emailing or finishing off work, and I usually don't claim overtime or TOIL [time off in lieu] for this because I don't have time to take TOIL."
"I've been on medication for four years because of the stress the workload creates, and it's just getting worse."
Another frontline social worker - who quit working in Care and Protection in 2023 after five years - said it was impossible to take breaks for lunch and the job involved working late most nights.
"I was always having to cancel very important appointments to the point where I would be crying to my supervisor telling her I must attend this very important appointment (after 5pm). She told me I would be in serious trouble if I walked out at 5pm and that the children are my responsibility as they are in OT care and on my case load. So I quit."
Rolling industrial action begins at 5pm Wednesday and ends on 18 April. It includes care and protection residences, youth justice residences, residential homes, and the national contact centre:
- A ban on all work that is not paid work, including only working standard hours of work and taking all rest and meal breaks
- A ban on using all work-related systems and software outside of paid work, including online case recording systems
- A ban on working paid overtime; and a ban on working overtime for TOIL
- A ban on working double shifts
- A ban on being on-call and working call-back (after-hours duties)
- There will be a total withdrawal of labour across the agency for two hours from 3pm, Friday 7 March.
A spokesperson for Oranga Tamariki said it attended mediation with the union on Thursday but the parties "remain some distance apart on issues important to both sides".
"This means that the PSA strike action will go ahead, starting today at 5pm, for many of our services.
"This strike action includes Social Workers and Youth Workers.
"Oranga Tamariki is actively planning to ensure the safety of children and young people remains a priority, while we continue to negotiate in good faith on the settlement of the collective agreement, this includes insuring that our after-hours on call services will be maintained."
Emergency cover had been arranged across all regions for any after-hours requirements this weekend, she said.
