November, 2003

Members from a range of trade unions are to gather in New Plymouth tonight to support union members at TSB bank who have waited 12 years for the opportunity to negotiate a collective employment agreement, Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

"The Employment Court has closed off a legal device used by employers to undermine collective bargaining," Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

In a decision likely to have ramifications for other agreements, the court has found that workers covered by a collective agreement between the New Zealand Herald and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, cannot leave the collective and sign an individual agreement without resigning from the union.

"The decision makes clear that employer devices such as making a salary increase conditional on leaving the collective agreement are in breach of the Employment Relations Act," Ross Wilson said.

"This important judgement of the full court will have a broad application but there remain other legal loopholes used by employers to undermine collective bargaining which will have to be corrected by legislative change," he said.

"Corporate rest home operators must put care before profits and agree to safe staffing levels," Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

Staff at Redwood Lodge Rest Home and Hospital in Rotorua are taking four days of strike action over the decision by their employer, NZ Lifecare Ltd, to refuse
to write in minimum staff/resident ratios into their collective agreement.

"Increasing aged care resident ratios since 2001, when NZ Lifecare Ltd purchased
Redwood Lodge, are putting the quality of care and safety of the elderly residents at risk," Ross Wilson said.

"The Council of Trade Unions is calling on all unions to support the NZ Nursing Organisation in its attempts to secure safer staffing levels.

"This dispute seems to be a case of a corporate putting profits before safe and quality standards of care," Ross Wilson said.

The tragic death of a worker on an Auckland building site raises the need for corporate manslaughter laws when company owners show reckless disregard for the lives of workers, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

The suspension of striking staff at Northland Polytechnic is a provocative action by the employer which will not help to resolve the dispute, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

"Four weeks holiday will be a huge boost for working families and the Council of Trade Unions is very proud of the union role in achieving it," CTU president Ross Wilson said today.

"The renewed Partnership for Quality Agreement strengthens the social partnership relationship between the largest public sector union and the Government," Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

"The Government's lead on retirement savings should encourage employers in the private sector to make contributions to retirement savings for workers," Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

The Council of Trade Unions is calling on all unions to support the 2,000 IHC workers locked out by their employer, CTU president Ross Wilson said today.

IHC has given the Service & Food Workers Union notice of an indefinite lockout of union members intending to take limited industrial action over the IHC Chief Executive's refusal to meet with union representatives.

"The CTU will not stand by while a large government-funded employer uses its power to lock out workers when a settlement is clearly possible," Ross Wilson said.

"IHC will find that its bullying tactics merely provoke support for the locked out staff," he said. "CTU affiliate unions represent around 300,000 members who will be asked to provide solidarity to the IHC workers in their fight for a fair settlement."