Water and waste change

Paul Orders.
Paul Orders.
Water and wastewater network maintenance will be outsourced to an outside provider, the Dunedin City Council announced yesterday.

The decision follows a consultation process. City operations general manager Tony Avery said 30 water and wastewater maintenance workers at the Turakina Rd depot would transfer to an external employer. The move would save between $350,000 and $500,000 a year.

At a media conference, council chief executive Paul Orders acknowledged it was stressful for staff, who were told yesterday.

''It's always going to be a difficult time for staff. It's a significant proposal.''

A team leader and a manager affected by the change were yet to find out what would happen to their jobs, water and waste services manager Dr Laura McElhone said.

Redeployment options would be considered.

The council also announced it had shortlisted four providers: Fulton Hogan, Christchurch City Council-owned City Care, Downer and French-owned Veolia.

Amalgamated Workers Union NZ official Stephen Scandrett said when contacted the union already had strong collective agreements with three of the four shortlisted providers.

The workers had collectively given more than 300 years' labour to the council.

''Contracting out or outsourcing always has the potential for workers to be disadvantaged in respect to ongoing employment and conditions of employment, or employment at all.

''Given council has reached this decision, we will be working with council to ensure the impact of council's decision on members is minimised,'' Mr Scandrett said in a press release.

As well as the direct savings, the council would raise $900,000 from selling equipment and vehicles, while it would avoid future investment of about $590,000.

As a result of staff submissions, the council altered the proposal slightly, keeping the maintenance of pressure-reducing valves in-house. This would not affect savings.

The four providers were shortlisted following an expressions-of-interest process. The next step was a request for proposals.

The outsourcing was the first phase of change for water and waste services. In August, the council would release details of further reorganisation, aimed at improving processes and efficiency, partly to work with an outside contractor.

eileen.goodwin@odt.co.nz

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