June, 2005

Many of those at the recent CTU special affiliates council meeting were shocked to learn that 21 per cent of union members supported the National Party. An analysis of Nationals industrial relations policy leaves the CTU wondering why a union member would want to support that party.

The National Party has declared war on workers and unions with its industrial relations policy, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

The CTU has taken out radio advertising to encourage workers to get on the electoral roll and be aware of parties' workplace policies. It has also produced a leaflet which outlined getting on the roll, how MMP works, and parties' voting track records on employment legislation.

"National has criticised unions for being politically partisan but part of our job is to represent workers' interests at the political level, and National's industrial relations policy is not in the interests of workers," Ross Wilson said.

The CTU did not try to tell working people how to vote, but had a responsibility to assess work-related policies which affected workers, their families and communities, he said.

"National's policy would take us back to the 1990s and workers know from bitter experience this would mean a return to the divisive and destructive days of the Employment Contracts Act.

"We were left with low wages, child poverty, and skill shortages that still hamper economic and social development today."

Under National policy, workers would expect lower wage increases, reduced job security, the right of appeal axed if they are dismissed, cuts in holiday, sick and bereavement leave, and reduced health and safety protection at work.

"Some voters may be tempted by promises of a small tax cut but they will pay several times over in reduced wages and public services and increased interest rates and prices, if National is elected," Ross Wilson said.

"The CTU will be sounding a serious warning to working people about what they could expect from a National Government," Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

Stagecoach bus drivers in Auckland are to be congratulated on holding out for a decent pay rise, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

The CTU National Affiliates Council had endorsed the bus drivers' claim for fair pay and supported the industrial action they took to back their case. The drivers have won a top pay rate of $16 per hour, effective immediately.

"This is another victory for workers in their drive for decent pay," Ross Wilson said. "Workers now expect a fair share of the country's economic growth, and they are prepared to fight for what they are entitled to."

Unions acknowledged the support of Auckland commuters for the drivers' cause, even though many of them had been affected by last month's strikes.

"The CTU will be holding talks with the unions, the employer and the Auckland Regional Council in a bid to build a better bargaining environment when the drivers' employment agreement comes up for negotiation again in two years," Ross Wilson said.

The text of the speech by CTU secretary Carol Beaumont, delivered at the funeral of Sonja Davies at the Wellington Town Hall, Sunday, June 19, 2005

It is a great honour to speak on behalf of the union movement to celebrate the life of Sonja Davies. The union movement lost a good friend and a loyal activist this week, with her death. Sonja was a woman whose life inspired many others, those who knew her personally and many who didn't know her

There is so much to say about Sonja and her activism around so many issues and at some many levels ? women's rights, childcare and early childhood education, equal pay, workers rights, peace, as a community activist, as a feminist, as a union official, in local government and as an MP, locally, nationally and internationally. Sonja dedicated her life to speaking up for the rights of ordinary New Zealanders. Underlying all of this work was her struggle to make the world a better, fairer, and more peaceful place. As a result of her work she had the opportunity to travel widely and to make large international networks. Her politics of the left never wavered.

In the 1950s, when she lived in Nelson, she was involved in the New Zealand Workers Union with her husband Charlie. In the late 1960s, he fell ill and had to retire. Sonja was appointed as the Hawke's Bay representative for the Wellington Clerical Workers Union and the New Zealand Food Processing Union - her first paid union position. After Charlie's death, she moved to Wellington and became an official with the Public Service Association. Two years later she joined the Wellington Shop Employees Union. Sonja was a passionate advocate for shop workers - low paid and primarily women workers. She worked for the Wellington Shop Employees Union for 14 years until she was elected as the Labour MP for Pencarrow.

Sonja was a founding member of the Working Women's Council and a founder and the first president of the New Zealand Childcare Association. She was also key to the formation of the Early Childhood Workers Union. Sonja was also involved in implementing the 1972 Equal Pay Act and was a member of the Equal Pay Review Committee.

Sonja was a leader in advocating for the rights of woman at work and in unions. It wasn't easy and she said of her early years in the trade union movement that 'when women got up to speak at conferences ? the men all got up to read their newspapers or have a beer'. Judy Attenberger recalls being at a FOL conference where they were among only a handful of women and how Sonja organized them and decided on a strategy to ensure they were listened to by not giving notice they were going to speak.

In 1978 Sonja became the first woman to be elected to the National Executive of the Federation of Labour. She went on to become in 1983 the FOL Vice President. defeating Ernie Ball (national secretary of the Engineers Union) and Ashley Russ (national secretary of the Carpenters Union). She was the first woman to be elected an officer of the FOL. She told the conference she hoped her example would encourage other women in the trade unions.

Ted Thompson, the retiring vice-president, told the conference: "? in Sonja Davies you have a real gold mine. She is a battler and in my mind ? she will never stop struggling in the interests of the people she represents."

Unions have come a long way since then, but there's still a road ahead of us to fulfil Sonja's dream of equality. I have to say though that coming from the CTU Women's Conference over the last two days where we honoured Sonja I think she would have been very pleased by the active, dynamic women who worked hard to develop ways of continuing to build our industrial and political power for our families and communities.

But imagine, often in the face of opposition, what it must have felt like for her, and the courage it must have taken, to continue to get up to speak, to continue to fight for what you believed in and to continue to demand your rights. What gave her courage was the activity and support of other women and men at a very exciting time for women in the union movement. Maxine Gay recalls as an 18 year old worker hearing Sonja speak at a factory with two male colleagues. She recalls thinking Sonja as a large woman and was surprised when she met her to find out how small she was. She put this down to Sonja having real presence, something others have mentioned to me. She also mentioned how at the end of the meeting another woman described Sonja as a 'wicked woman'. When asked why she said because she leaves her husband and child at home and flies all around the country causing trouble. Maxine thought if what she'd heard was causing trouble then it sounded like a good idea and another woman was inspired by Sonja. We all know that Sonja's advocacy for women did mean she faced many personal attacks.

The campaign to endorse the Working Women's Charter and the consequent establishment of the FOL Women Advisory Committee and the Trades Councils Women's Subcommittees was the result of huge activism. Sonja with her experience and skills from community, local government and union activism was able to provide the leadership and front the campaigns. In Bread and Roses she describes this campaign as the 'Battle of a Lifetime'. Irena Brorens, then a young receptionist with the Shop Employees Union was invited to go with Sonja to the FOL conference during one of the debates on the Working Women's Charter. She recalls listening to Sonja, seeing her standing there being given a hard time about abortion and taking the critics on. Irena too was inspired by Sonja to became a union organiser and to fight for women's rights.

Sonja was part of a movement within unions in the 1970s and 1980s to democratise and build opportunities for workers to be active within their unions and for greater accountability of paid officials to the membership. She saw this as a way for women to play a greater role within the union movement and was actively involved in creating such change within the Shoppies.

She showed us that if you want to make change then you have to be persistent and fight for it. She also showed us that you have to build alliances and take the time to build support. In talking with many people over the last week about Sonja the common words used to describe her are words like courageous, kind, honest, principled, loyal, hard working, persistent and dedicated. Kirsty Campbell like many young women in the 1970s and 1980s was encouraged by Sonja to become active in the union movement. She describes Sonja was someone who could fight with the best of them but in doing so she managed to touch peoples hearts. Her energy and love of people were obvious to the end of her life.

In concluding I would like to express the heartfelt thanks of the union movement to Sonja for having done so much for so many and for inspiring so many of us to contribute what we can to the union movement, the wider Labour movement and the fight for social justice. We will fight to retain what has been achieved and for further progress. As Sonja said at the conclusion of Marching On "Nothing is ever too difficult to achieve. Only inertia can defeat us".

To Sonja's close friends, her brother David and her grandsons I express my sincere condolences for your loss.

Around 1,100 people gathered in the Wellington Town Hall today for the funeral to celebrate the life of former MP, trade unionist and peace activist Sonja Davies.

Sonja Davies, ONZ, died last Sunday in Wellington. She was 81.

She was carried into the Town Hall by a number of her women friends as the Wellington union women's choir sang Bread and Roses, the song from which the first volume of her autobiography took its title.

The ceremony was lead by her friend, Charles Chauvel and the speakers were the Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright, the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, Parliament's Speaker, Margaret Wilson, Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont, Sir Tipene O'Regan, on behalf of her iwi, Ngai Tahu, and her brother David Mackersey.

Many of the speakers paid tribute to Sonja Davies' work advancing the rights of women, working people, and in the peace movement.

Dame Silvia Cartwright described her as a New Zealand icon who "pricked the conscience of a nation".

"Sonja Davies was a unique person who made a difference to the lives of thousands of New Zealanders."

Helen Clark paid tribute to a passionate woman who stood up for what she believed in all her life and was a "force to be reckoned with" when she was fighting for the rights of others.

Margaret Wilson told the gathering that Sonja Davies was a great leader who had made a huge contribution to the advancement of women, particularly though the Working Women's Charter "an agenda for equality for working women ? an agenda we are still pursing today".

Carol Beaumont spoke about her activism for women's issues within trade unions. "Sonja was a woman whose life inspired many others, those who knew her personally and many who didn't know her."

Her brother, David Mackersey described her loyalty to her family and her everlasting friendships with many people, while Sir Tipene O'Regan remembered what he called Sonja Davies' great quality, "an enduring and indomitable optimism".

A private cremation ceremony followed the funeral.

Growing the power and influence of women in trade unions, their industries and communities has been high on the agenda at a national conference of union women in Wellington.

Around 160 women from 21 unions gathered for the two-day Council of Trade Unions' biennial women's conference which finished today.

"Women also focussed on the power of their vote in the up-coming general election to ensure the next Government will continue to deliver on issues affecting women workers," said CTU secretary Carol Beaumont.

Some of these issues included the need to close the gender pay gap, deal with low pay and poverty, and scrap the student loans system which disadvantaged women.

"The conference also saw a need to break down occupational segregation and allow more women into non-traditional jobs."

Unions were challenged to recognise diversity among their membership, and to reflect that diversity in core union agendas. They should also build strong alliances with community organisations to promote the interests of particular groups of workers.

"The conference celebrated the gains for women, and recognised that there is still much work to be done to achieve fairness and equality for all," Carol Beaumont said.

Unions need to put issues affecting women workers at the top of the agenda and make them core union business, Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

Carol Beaumont laid down the challenge at the opening of the CTU Biennial Women's Conference in Wellington today.

Women made up the majority of union members yet were still not fairly represented at all levels of the union movement just like they were not fairly represented throughout the workforce, in business or political life, she said.

"It's not just about having women in the most senior positions. Real power in unions is when the issues affecting women workers are core union business and hit the top of the agenda and where we can make real change in those issues."

There were few issues that were only women's issues, but there were many which affected more women than men such as low pay, work-life balance and pay and employment equity.

Unions' focus on economic and social development through building a high skill, high value economy would not succeed if inequalities persisted between women and men, Carol Beaumont said.

"How can we build a high skill economy when many part-time workers ? mainly women ? have limited access to training opportunities, when women's opportunities to study are limited by high levels of unpaid caring work, and when many industries or occupations where women are concentrated have fewer formal training opportunities?"

Carol Beaumont paid tribute to Sonja Davies, who dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of women and working people.

"Sonja said of her early years in the trade union movement that 'when women got up to speak ? the men all got up to read their newspapers or have a beer'.

"Unions have come a long way since then, but there is still a road ahead of us to fulfil Sonja's dream of equality," Carol Beaumont said.

Politicians' promises of tax cuts sound good to many workers. Some who are struggling on the minimum wage or in low-paid jobs would welcome the few extra dollars a week in their pay packets if taxes were cut.

The Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright, and the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, will be among the speakers at Sunday's funeral in Wellington to celebrate the life of Sonja Davies.

A trans-Tasman conference of transport unions was under way in Wellington today with multi-national employer Toll Holdings in its sights.

Ninety transport union leaders and delegates from Australian and New Zealand transport and maritime unions were meeting for the two-day strategy conference organised jointly by the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

"This is a watershed conference in the evolution of Australasian trade unionism," said CTU president Ross Wilson. "It's the first time that Australasian unions have combined to develop a strategy which focuses on a single multi-national employer."

Toll Holdings was an increasingly dominant player in the transport scene on both sides of the Tasman. It took a supply chain approach and was involved in rail, road and sea.

Minister of Transport Pete Hodgson opened the conference at 9.30am and presentations today would include an Australian university research report on how the Toll business model operated.

Thousands of low-paid supermarket workers are the latest to gain from unions' push for a minimum five per cent pay rise, Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

"Laundry workers at Capital and Coast District Health Board will be washing the DHBs dirty laundry in public when they take strike action from Thursday 23 June," Maxine Gay, the secretary of the Clothing, Laundry and Allied Workers Union, said today.

The Council of Trade Unions wants to work alongside the Green Party and the wider movement for social justice, CTU president Ross Wilson told the Green Partys annual conference in Christchurch this weekend.

Round-up of economic news, information and issues by CTU economist Peter Conway.

Read the CTU Economic Bulletin, No. 59