May, 2005

In a speech to the Wellington Rotary Club today CTU president Ross Wilson accused the National Party of putting ideology ahead of national interest with its industrial relations and economic policies.

The Council of Trade Unions is issuing a wake-up call to workers as political parties reveal where they really stand in the battle over wages and taxes.

"Their policies are out there and workers have to sit up and take notice as the general election draws near," CTU president Ross Wilson said today.

Unions want the Government's review of immigration law to include the enforcement of labour standards for new migrants, Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

Five per cent has become the benchmark for pay rises in 2005 with unions reporting pay settlements of that figure or higher, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

Some employers are responding to increases in the adult minimum wage by attempting to pay their young workers the minimum youth rate, Council of Trade Unions youth council organiser Nadine Rae said today.

Stagecoach must get real and settle with the Auckland bus drivers, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

The CTU National Affiliates Council, representing more than 300,000 union members, this morning voted to support the bus drivers and committed to assisting in any way necessary to resolve the dispute

"The seriousness of the drivers' commitment to their claims is reflected in the huge earnings loss they have taken as a result of the six-day strike," Ross Wilson said.

"Stagecoach is tilting at windmills with its futile attempt to force a settlement on the drivers through the Employment Relations Authority."

The drivers had exercised their legal right to strike after an overwhelming vote in a democratic decision-making process, and their $16 per hour claim clearly had strong public support, he said.

"It is time for Stagecoach to take stock and get back into negotiations with an offer which will settle the dispute and bring the strike to an end."

Claims of sweatshop conditions faced by crews on foreign vessels contracted to New Zealand companies exceeded unions' worst fears, Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

The country is facing a crisis of occupational disease and many will continue to die from work-related illness unless better systems are put in place, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

CTU president Ross Wilsons speech to Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum, 29-30 April 2005.

Link to the full text of the speech.

New wage figures show that unions are on the right track and have a good case for demanding higher pay, Council of Trade Unions economist Peter Conway said today.

The Labour Cost Index was updated today and showed that wages lifted by 2.5 per cent in the last year while consumer prices were up by 2.8 per cent and executive pay rates went up by 5.2 per cent.

More than 40 per cent of workers got no wage increase at all in the last year.

"There are signs of some higher wage increases coming through in 2005, but these statistics confirm that unions have a very good case for higher wages," Peter Conway said.

"There have been labour shortages for more than four years, but there's a very long lag in signs of wages rising in response."

Peter Conway said that where workers got a pay increase in the last year, the median was 3.1 per cent.

"There is ample room for higher wages that are not inflationary when productivity and profitability levels are considered. It will mean that the huge lift in profits will need to absorb some of the wage increase."

National has had another bash at workers this week with the release of its industrial relations policy.

Download The Unionist (pdf,400kb)

National's industrial relations policy shows it is more interested in bashing workers and their unions than valuing the labour force as the backbone of the economy, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union's breakthough in settling the trend-setting Metals agreement is welcome news for many workers and their unions, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

Unions are pushing for more exemptions to the carbon tax to preserve jobs in key energy-intensive industries, Council of Trade Unions economist Peter Conway said today.