The Unionist, Issue 43, 26 May 2006.

The Unionist, Issue 43, 26 May 2006.

Either read on, or you can download the printed version of The Unionist here (PDF file, 35 kb)

International Youth Committee meets in Wellington

Last week youth committee members of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions - Asia and Pacific Regional Office (ICFTU-APRO) met in Wellington for a seminar and plenary on youth employment.

Delegates came from Mongolia, Jordan, the Philippines, Singapore, Fiji, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Vanuatu, India, Sri Lanka, Israel and New Zealand.

The committee had a busy agenda, focusing primarily on youth employment, and fed into work the ICFTU
was doing on the issue. Each country presented a country report on work unions were doing in their area. The committee also heard about New Zealand campaigns such as SuperSizeMyPay.Com, and took to the streets to leaflet for the YUM youth rates campaign.

Skills Development a Welcome Feature of Last Week's Budget

"The CTU is pleased that this year's Budget has put some real money into new initiatives to address workforce issues around literacy, numeracy and language skills, with $33.5 million in funding over 4 years to improve 'foundation' skills," secretary Carol Beaumont said following the budget last week.

"This is in addition to another $34.4 million for modern apprentices and extra funding for industry training."

"It is vital that workers are supported so they can keep up with technology changes and new challenges in literacy and numeracy. We can't build a high wage, high skill economy if lots of people can't get another chance to boost their basic skills."

"Eighty per cent of the 2015 workforce is already at work today and we hope this funding will help people on a path of lifelong learning," Carol Beaumont said.

The CTU welcomed extra funding to ACC, which will help New Zealand towards meeting ILO Convention No. 17 'Workmen's Compensation (Accidents) Convention 1925' . This convention requires signatory countries to ensure that the medical costs for work related injuries are not borne by workers.

A contribution of $12.9 million over four years will go towards extending ACC funded treatment providers such as acupuncturists, chiropractors, occupational therapists and physiotherapists. Funding was also increased for home based rehabilitation through ACC, by $5.5 million over four years.

The CTU also welcomed an extra 6.6 million towards protecting workers from hazardous substances, which will improve the Department of Labour's capacity to address the issue of occupational illness. A recent report from the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee estimated between 700 and 1000 workers per year die of slow onset occupational illness.

Events

Unions Local Events

Unions Manawatu
May 26, 3pm
PSA House, 41-47 King St, Palm Nth
john.shennan@psa.org.nz

Unions Northland
June 6, 5pm.
TUC, 7 First Ave, Whangarei
gparsloe@seafarers.org.nz

Unions Tauranga
June 12, 5pm
Seafarers Centre, Hull Rd, Mt
Maunganui
gparsloe@seafarers.org.nz

Unions Hawkes Bay
June 12, 5.30pm
TUC, 2 Lipton Pl, Napier
dhyde@nduunion.org.nz

Unions Otago
June 13, 4.30pm
NZNO, Level 3, 7 Crawford St, Dunedin
glendaa@nzno.org.nz

Unions Canterbury
June 20, 4pm
TUC, 199 Armagh Street, Christchurch
Karena.Brown@epmu.org.nz

Unions Auckland
June 15, 4pm.
Trades Hall, 147 Gt Nth Rd, Auckland
gparsloe@seafarers.org.nz

Unions Waikato
July 6, 5.15pm
TUC, 34 Harwood Street, Hamilton
fiona.mcqueen@epmu.org.nz

CTU Meetings, Training

ACC Partnership Programme Training,
Stage Two
a) May 31, 9am-5pm
Baptist Church, Oxford Tce,
Christchurch
oksanaz@nzctu.org.nz
b) June 9, 9am-4.30pm
Concord Room, Hotel Grand
Chancellor, Auckland Airport
oksanaz@nzctu.org.nz

Skills of Organising
June 13, 14, 15, 9am-5pm
McKenzie Room, St Johns Church Cnr Willis & Dixon Streets, Wellington
karenn@nzctu.org.nz

Leadership Development For Young Workers
June 20, 9am-4.30pm
Big Hall, St Johns Church Cnr Willis & Dixon Streets, Wellington
karenn@nzctu.org.nz

Training Skills
Part 1: June 20 & 21
Part 2: July 25 & 26
EPMU, 9 Madeira Lane, Grafton, Auckland (For Parts 1 & 2)
1st Day 9.30am - 5.00pm
2nd Day 9.00am - 5.00pm
karenn@nzctu.org.nz

Contact

If you have any information about upcoming CTU events please contact:
Sam Huggard - (04) 802 3817, email: samh@nzctu.org.nz