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NZSA CEO’s September Newsletter
In this abridged September update, NZSA CEO Gary Morrison covers Fair Pay Agreements, the latest Saved a Life Medal recipient, Security Career Pathway website, the jailing of a security company owner, and more.
FPA (Fair Pay Agreement) update
Whilst the future of FPAs may be dependent on the outcome of October’s election, it is important to note that the legislation is in place and where approved applications for FPA bargaining exist, there is a legal obligation on employers of covered employees and other stakeholders (including the NZSA) to comply with the specified process and timelines.
For employers of staff covered by the Security Officer FPA, you should have by now circulated the Etu communications to all impacted staff and have forwarded the MBIE Employee Contact Details spreadsheet with a listing of all covered staff and their contact details back to Etu. If you have yet to action this, it should be expedited or if you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to the NZSA for guidance.
In coming days, we should receive from MBIE confirmation of the approved bargaining parties to the Security Officer FPA. Once we receive this information, we have a 20-working day window in which to document and confirm inter-party side agreements with each bargaining party.
These agreements will lay out details on how the parties will work together once bargaining commences and will include the structure and composition of the bargaining teams.
We will provide further information on this process to our members via the separate FPA mailing data base.
Saved A Life Medal
The latest recipient of the Saved A Life Medal is Josh Beckham, Supervisor for Allied Security.
The awarding of the medal recognised the heroic efforts of Josh in early June when he responded to a call from a security officer who was being assaulted by offenders at a customer site in Tauranga Crossing. Arriving at the site within minutes of the call, Josh ensured the safety of the guard before applying first aid to the guard who had injuries to his eye socket, jaw and throat during the 20-minute wait for ambulance attendance.
During the event Josh was able to give comprehensive first aid, keep the guard conscious, and keep his composure, whilst also alerting the local Operations Manager and the client to the event and providing regular updates.
To see the full story of Josh’s heroic actions, please see the NZSA website. We also remind our members, and wider public, that nominations can be submitted via the NZSA website.
Sexual Harassment Amendment Act
As highlighted in our July newsletter, the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill came into force on 13 June 2023.
All new Employment Agreements must now include a reference to the 12-month period for raising a personal grievance for sexual harassment.
Existing employment agreements are not required to include such a reference, but the 12-month period for raising a personal grievance for sexual harassment will still apply. The 12-month period begins from the date on which the action alleged to amount to the personal grievance occurred or came to the notice of the employee, whichever is later.
Application for inclusion of Security Technicians on Green List
In our last newsletter we advised that we had applied for the inclusion of Security Technicians on the Green List and were reasonably confident of a favourable response.
The approval list is currently sitting with Government for sign-off and despite communication in July that confirmation was expected “in coming weeks”, nothing has been released to date.
We appreciate that this is an important issue for electronic security providers, and we will certainly communicate the outcome once known.
Security career pathway website
Several years ago, the NZSA created the Security Career Pathway website as a resource for the industry, those looking at the industry as a career option, and other stakeholders including MSD, school career advisors and training providers.
The website provides comprehensive information on a wide range of security roles, including job requirements, training, licensing, indicative pay scales and promotional pathways, and also includes a number of videos featuring staff talking about their jobs and what they find rewarding.
We recommend checking out the website and welcome any feedback, including updates on the information provided, and also additional videos for inclusion.
Constitution update
The new Incorporated Societies Act 2022 comes fully into force on 5 October 2023 however in order to function as intended, it must first be supplemented by the passing of a range of Regulations which at this time are still under consultation and have yet to be finalised.
The NZSA will need to reregister under the new Act but given we have a two-and-a-half-year window in which to file our new registration, we believe it is prudent that we wait for the finalised Regulations to be published before we finalise changes required to our current Rules. We do not envisage any significant changes however one obvious requirement will be to retitle our Rules and By-Laws to read Constitution.
Our current planning is that we will work through all necessary changes and amendments early next year and document them fully, with explanation, for our members well prior to the 2024 AGM.
Security company owner jailed
The following information was provided this week as a press release by the IRD.
Unfortunately, we are not aware of any review being undertaken by MBIE into their procurement processes around the awarding of MIQ contracts and the obvious lack of due diligence and vetting.
Rupert Faimoa-Magele, the sole director of Blade Group Limited, was sentenced on 23 August to 3 years and one month in prison on charges relating to evading, or attempting to evade, the assessment and payment of GST, PAYE and Income Tax.
Blade Group Limited predominantly provided security to hospitality venues but during the COVID pandemic, the company also received more than $300,000 for providing security services to three Auckland MIQ hotels. Over 36 months, Faimoa-Magele evaded the assessment or payment of in excess of $1,077,000 in taxes by not filing tax returns, or materially understating the tax payable.
The company was placed into receivership in January 2021 and liquidated in IRD’s application in March 2021. Faimoa-Magele was not ordered to pay reparation as he has no assets or means to pay.
