IRD members at home because Cashel St building is inside the cordon: A delegates meeting is planned on Wednesday 16 March. Eleanor Young, GMHR is to brief delegates in the afternoon to update on the recovery process. From 14 March to 5 April members will be paid as normal – the six week relief given by John Key to all Christchurch businesses affected. IRD are looking for a gradual return to work over this period. Some staff will work from home and others in temporary locations. IRD will consider requests to work from another NZ location. (NB: we have been anable to finalise our CEA negotiations due the EQ.)
AIL American Income Life Insurance Company re policyholders in the Canterbury region: anyone needing to make a claim, or with questions about their coverage can call 0800 894 121 and press 3. If the call is unanswered, leave a message that includes your name, policy number, current address, postal code and contact numbers. AIL is also offering a special Waiver of Premium for policyholders who are unable to work due to the earthquake for up to 90 days – they will waive their premiums but keep them fully covered. A new disaster claim needs to be lodged for processing. Policyholders will not be required to pay back any premiums. To register for the premium waiver, please call as above.
NMIT Nelson – An IT review has been announced – in this proposal, our members are unaffected other than a change in reporting structure – deadline for comments unknown at this stage.
LSA – the consultation document on the merger with Justice from 1 July has been released to staff and managers. We need to provide feedback or submissions on the proposals prior to the final decision. Consultation closes on 22 March 2011. The Christchurch Legal Aid Office in Oxford Terrace is inside the red zone and staff cannot access the files inside the office.
Justice is now based at 4 O’Briens Road, Enterprise Business Park, Sockburn. Christchurch staff not working in essential roles will remain on special leave until further notice. All court buildings in Christchurch will remain closed for six weeks unless notified otherwise. Justice services are operating out of Rangiora District Court where the retrieved server was relocated and Christchurch Men’s Prison with the support of both local and national response teams. Some are supporting Coroners at Burnham Military Camp. There is a staff dropin centre at Sockburn.
CYF: Around 20 Child, Youth and Family social workers from outside the region have been in Christchurch to work alongside staff. Trauma counsellors are on site at the Hornby service centre, 25 Shands Road. Te Oranga residence had problems with water and power, but Te Puna Wai Tuhinapo has been operating as normal. There is a Health and Safety meeting in Wellington Monday 14th March which Janice and Phil Grice are attending. Lynda is up and running to assist Auckland CYF members. Given there was a fire on level two of the national office building recently we are not sure where they are meeting but we know there will be much to discuss!
Corrections – Community work recommenced on Tuesday 1 March at either 16 Winston Ave, 209 Annex Rd or Nga Hau e Wha Marae at 250 Pages Rd.
