The People Have Spoken

The people of New Zealand in their wisdom voted to ensure that a Labour led Government would retain the Treasury benches for at least another 3 years. This time should encourage workers to believe that they again have the opportunity to restore dignity to their employment relationships. Many workers have already joined the Northern Amalgamated Workers Union and are now covered by Collective Agreements. However too many workers are still prepared to leave their welfare in the hands of their employers; too many workers are prepared to accept low wages and inferior conditions of employment because of some belief that their employers are supermen: well they’re not! - Our experience is that these supposed tough guys turn to custard when confronted by Union solidarity.

SO PEOPLE STAND UP AND BE COUNTED!

YOUR WAGES AND CONDITIONS CAN IMPROVE AND

WITH THE HELP OF THIS UNION THEY WILL IMPROVE!

During the Election, National, Act & NZ First vehemently supported a "No Tolerance" policy on violent crime. Yet when it comes to violent workplace deaths all we get from these parties is diatribe about Safety Laws being unfair and loading compliance costs on employers and that NZ workplaces are safe enough. They conveniently ignore the fact that OSH investigated workplace deaths have almost doubled, to 73 in the last 12 months.

In 1992 National weakened the inspectorate arm of OSH and gave employers the responsibility of administering safety. Unfortunately, most employers see Health & Safety as an unnecessary cost on their business. Small wonder when you listen to National, Act & NZ First. Ask yourself - is a 5 ton concrete slab falling on you a violent death? And is a fine of up to $50,000.00 adequate punishment for a negligent employer???

We can be thankful that none of the above Parties will form part of the next government.

The Coalition – our view

It is our view that there is only one viable coalition partner for the Labour/Progressive Coalition government and that is the Greens. Although some of their policies hold fears for this Union they are still a party that has the interest of workers at heart. The United Future Party has too many links with the Nats of the 90's and we do not believe that suddenly they have become worker friendly. They were, and in our view remain bed mates of National & Act.

Health & Safety

An area which is of grave concern to this Union is Health & Safety. We find the standards and procedures shown by some companies toward Health & Safety totally unacceptable. They make out that they are the ideal role model when it comes to implementing H & S on sites but in reality it is the some old story - get the job done at limited costs, and don’t worry too much about workers welfare. Do Employers see $$ tattooed on every workers forehead? We ask that all workers who work on sub standard sites give us a call and we will act by enforcing the true intent of what H & S stands for. You could be the next statistic to add to the already appalling death rate of construction workers.

Two construction sites I visited recently in Auckland Central for instance needed some urgent attention to their H & S practices. Both companies were advised of our concerns and took prompt action to rectify the problems.

Filibuster Phil

Well the election has been and gone resulting in a Government favourable to our cause being re-elected. So in the next three years it will not only be the government working hard to improve the environment we live in, but yours truly the Northern Amalgamated Workers Union.

Since the introduction of the ERA 2000 this union has achieved many things in regards to improving terms of employment and related matters for members. We intend on continuing this trend, along with expanding membership and Union activity to greater heights.

There should be some changes made to current acts and legislations, hopefully in the near future, which will benefit Unions and workers. Examples of these are the Health & Safety Bill, Holidays Act, Parental Leave and the ERA 2000. Our Union is deeply involved in making our point heard and recognized in relation to the above.

Membership is increasing steadily which shows that workers are hearing and seeing that belonging to a Union is beneficial. One of our aims is to create more activism amongst our membership which is currently proving to make workers feel more part of and involved in their Union.

We are currently running a campaign with Allied Workforce members against their employer who is refusing to sit down and negotiate a Collective Agreement. The claims we have put forward are only minimal claims which we would all expect from an employer as a minimum. This is just one example of the activism talked about above.

At this stage we have formed committees at the 4 Auckland branches. These came about by asking for volunteers, who we had no problem in attaining, we had to turn down a few as there were a limited number of positions to fill. This shows that members are sick of the employer’s attitude and want to become involved.

So if you have any Allied employees on your sites or in your workplace, spare them some support for what they are trying to achieve from their employer;

FAIRNESS, RESPECT & RECOGNITION

We may work for different employers, but we are all in the same Union - AWUNZ

Construction Industry Agreements

Not only are we in a number of negotiations with new employers for Collective Agreements but we are renewing existing agreements, round two of our campaign in re-unionising the Construction Industry.

We are asking employers if they would be interested in becoming part of a Multi Employer Collective Agreement in the future. The interest has been positive so we will have a good look at this in the next 12 months; giving all enough time to adapt to the idea of change.

That’s enough from me for now; we'll sight you next month. If you haven't seen me for a while or want me to call into your workplace drop me an e-mail.

Carter Holt Harvey Kinleith

AWUNZ members employed by CHH Kinleith were informed in March of this year the CHH intended to contract out all of the mill-maintenance work to another company called ABB Ltd.

This announcement came as a shock to many workers who were in the midst of renegotiating their Collective Agreement. Previously the Company and Unions had put forward their claims.

The Company claims were essentially to claw-back the buses/transport allowances and have the mill run seven days per week, 24 hours per day, and 365 days per year. I.e. full production Christmas day, which has been the case for several years on a voluntary basis.

A wage increase had been agreed to in principle. The question of redundancy had been put forward by the Unions following various "rumours", the Company claimed in December/January that they had no plans to make workers redundant.

However from material gathered by the Unions, this advice would appear to be less than honest. It seems that plans were well underway to contract out this work. An urgent case was heard by the Employment Authority which ruled against the Unions, this then resulted in an appeal being lodged which is being heard now.

The key point of the Companies proposal was initially to "transfer" workers to ABB Ltd through the Company selecting which workers would be transferred on existing terms and conditions and which workers who would be dumped. Workers resisted this proposal, so the Company then proposed to make all maintenance workers redundant and encouraged them to reapply for jobs with ABB on new terms.

The truth is that if ABB cannot employ the skilled experienced Kinleith maintenance workers, they will find it difficult to perform the required maintenance work as they do not have the much needed knowledge of the Kinleith Mill site.

Throughout this, the workers have resolved to maintain an integrated work-force at Kinleith. Various so called "deadlines" have come and gone without the intended stampede by workers who have stood solid with the Unions. Workers recognise that the Companies goal is to de-unionise Kinleith; to create uncertainty; and to undermine job security. Many workers know of ABB Ltd's history within both New Zealand and other countries - it is not pretty.

A decision from the Appeal Court is expected fairly quickly and meetings with the Company are continuing to try to negotiate a new Collective Agreement which includes the maintenance workers.

We will keep you informed on how the decision and negotiations work out.

Rotorua District Council.

This Council is one of the very few who kept much of its work 'in-house' through its Business Unit Castlecorp. The recent appointment of a new CEO has seen previous support of Castlecorp maintained with some $7m worth of work contracts being negotiated and awarded to Castlecorp.

Council has confirmed its previous views that the procedures, practices, operations and management of Castlecorp are of a high standard which ensures that the cost of Council delivering the services is competitive with external contractors.

Castlecorp and RDC employ around 130 workers, many of whom are AWUNZ members, so this decision which is recorded as a requirement of the Local Government Act is a feather in the cap for those workers.

Other Councils have simply contracted out work, laid oft workers, sold plant equipment assets, but not RDC who have stood by their workers over many years. Unlike other Councils, they have not exposed themselves to being held to ransom by contractors but have continued to provide the services that Rotorua ratepayers expect.

A recent NRB survey of ratepayers again saw a high level of satisfaction from ratepayers to the work of RDC and its Business Unit "Castlecorp" which recently celebrated its 10th birthday.