March, 2007

Four weeks annual leave is a union victory for all workers, writes the Unionist this week.  We also report on the CTU forum on election campaign funding, and home affordability.

Either read on, or you can download a printable version here: (PDF file, 63 kb)

“Working New Zealanders should take a moment on Sunday to reflect on the success of the union movement campaign in achieving a fourth week of annual leave for all workers,” CTU president Ross Wilson said.

The Council of Trade Unions said today that it is a major concern that Statistics NZ are attributing the widening of the income deficit in the December 2006 quarter to an increase in income payments to foreigners on their investments in New Zealand, and reflected a return to similar levels recorded in previous quarters.

"Regular wage increases and workers accessing KiwiSaver are two vital ingredients in tackling the high cost of home ownership which is increasingly out of reach for many Kiwis,” CTU Economist Peter Conway said.

Is our democracy “rule by the people” or rule by the corporate funders? The CTU has organised a forum in Wellington next week to find out, writes The Unionist this week.

Either read on, or you can download a printable version here (PDF file, 64 kb).

“A new online tool launched today will make the job of working out holidays entitlements easy, and should stop complaints from employers about the Holidays Act,” CTU president Ross Wilson said today.

“The CTU supports a focus on workers’ abilities, not disabilities, and blanket assumptions that all sheltered workshop participants should be exempt from minimum employment entitlements were discriminatory and outdated,” CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

Over 100 hundred delegates including Maori leaders, representatives from unions, government, education institutes and businesses were hosted by the Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi at a hui on Maori workforce development this week, writes the Unionist this Friday.

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has joined the international union movement and other Non Government Organisations in condemnation of the treatment of worker representatives and democracy campaigners in Zimbabwe.

“For New Zealand to succeed, we need Maori workers to succeed.  That is the focus of our Hui today – making sure we ‘leave no one behind’,” Council of Trade Unions vice president Maori Sharon Clair said.

The New Zealand manufacturing industry and the 300,000 workers it employs is too important to the New Zealand economy to be written off, the Council of Trade Unions said today.

Despite the all too frequent political rhetoric, there is now a general acknowledgement that the Maori workforce and community have a huge potential contribution to make to the future economic and social development of New Zealand.  

A new Council of Trade Unions DVD resource on Pay and Employment Equity was launched in Wellington on International Working Women’s Day, writes the Unionist this week.

Either read on, or download a printable version here (PDF file,  58 kb).

“Racial discrimination in any aspect of New Zealand life is unacceptable and both workers and employers must challenge it at workplaces,” CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

“With the gender pay gap hovering at 13%, at current progress we are still many years away from true pay and employment equity for women,” CTU vice president Helen Kelly said.

CTU Economist Peter Conway said today that while he acknowledges the Reserve Bank is responding to perceived underlying inflationary pressures that could threaten the 3% limit in 2008, it is hard to understand why interest rates should rise when the exchange rate is so high, there are regular announcements of factory closures, wage rises continue to be modest, GDP growth is at a low level, and inflation is predicted to fall below 2% in mid-2007.

“International Working Women’s Day is an opportunity to undertake a stocktake on the position of women in the paid workforce and our assessment is that while progress is being made, much more is needed to ensure working women achieve quality working lives,” CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said on International Working Women’s Day today.

“National’s new softly, softly approach to industrial relations masks their policy approach which is ‘business as usual’,” CTU president Ross Wilson said today.

“The CTU is interested in the policy detail and it is clear from Kate Wilkinson’s speech today, and our discussion with John Key last week, that nothing in the 2005 National Party policy has changed,” he said.

“Does National still support Australia’s harsh new labour laws that are driving down wages across the Tasman?” CTU president Ross Wilson said today.

Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that wages of workers in Australia declined in real terms by 0.6 % last year.  The issue has been raised by the International Trade Union Confederation at the World Trade Organisation investigation into Australian trade laws this week.

“Any discussion on building sustainable pacific economies must have a focus on the rights and development of workers in the Pacific,” CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

Parliament's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is to conduct an inquiry into New Zealand's relationships with South Pacific countries.

“Union members will decide whether to accept the proposal to avoid outsourcing at Air New Zealand,” Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

He was commenting on the media focus on differences in approach of the two unions involved, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union and the Service and Food Workers Union.

“All workers deserve the right to decent work, and recent attempts to delay the phasing out of minimum wage exemptions in sheltered workshop are unwelcome,” CTU Secretary Carol Beaumont said today.