Children in Oranga Tamariki care will be “potentially left in unsafe situations” on weekends as “undervalued” social workers begin seven weeks of strike action tomorrow, a union delegate says.

A Public Service Association (PSA) union statement said the strike - which ends on April 18 - bans all unpaid work for Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children members.

This means only working standard hours and taking all rest and meal breaks. Double shifts, being on-call, and working paid overtime is also banned.

Members plan to stop all work for two hours from 3pm on March 7.

Oranga Tamariki says mediation is taking place with the PSA today and the agency is planning to ensure children’s safety “should a strike occur”.

‘Who’s going to look after the kids?’

A Bay of Plenty union delegate - who spoke on the condition she was not named - said from 5pm on Friday there would be no “social workers on after-hours duties”.

“Children will be potentially left in unsafe situations, and they could actually be quite seriously harmed.”

She said many union members were feeling “quite guilty” about the strike.

“Who’s going to look after the kids? Who’s going to be there to respond if something happens?”

She said a social worker sometimes did their standard Monday to Friday hours, then worked “all weekend”, followed by another five-day week.

“That’s almost two weeks without any break because when you’re on after-hours, you’re vigilant, you don’t want to miss a phone call …

“You’ve got to make sure you’re available at the drop of a hat … it’s really hard work for a social worker.”

She said social workers were responsible for the safety and wellbeing of children on their caseload - a maximum of 20 under their collective agreement.

Their average day included home visits, meeting with schools, police, and families, and “making decisions that they think is in the best interests of the children”.

She said the child’s family “quite often” disagreed and “sometimes” also external professionals.

0% pay rise offer

The delegate said members had received a 0% pay increase offer.

“You do all this hard work and you’re not even being financially supported for it … that makes them feel undervalued.”

Seeing poverty, neglect, physical and sexual abuse on a daily basis was “very damaging to a social worker”, she said.

“That’s not acknowledged.”

She wanted the ministry to provide “a reasonable offer that acknowledges the hard work that all of our members do” and acknowledge their workload was “too high”.

“If they want us to produce quality, then we have to reduce the quantity on the social workers.”

‘Left with no choice’

The PSA statement said the strike covered about 2800 workers nationally including social workers, supervisors, staff in care and protection and youth justice residences, family group conference workers and administrative support staff.

It said in bargaining for a new collective agreement, Oranga Tamariki had offered “small lump sum payments” and no salary increases.

The agency was not addressing the “long standing and growing workload management issues … aggravated by last year’s big job cuts”.

Oranga Tamariki confirmed in June that 594 roles would be disestablished and 175 new roles created - a net reduction of 419 roles.

“The workers care deeply about the children they support, but they are left with no choice,” PSA assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.

“The pressure on staff to keep working after hours, such as with emergency care placements for children overnight in motels or offices, is unacceptable.”

Workers wanted a fair offer and workload management system, “or more staff will face burnout”.

Oranga Tamariki responds

In response to the delegate’s comments, an Oranga Tamariki spokesperson said it was in bargaining with the PSA.

“We are committed to resolving this and have mediation today with the PSA.

“Oranga Tamariki is focused on minimising risk and is actively planning to ensure the safety of children and young people remains a priority should a strike occur.”

Oranga Tamariki could not comment further.