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Health and safety

Man in a million back at work

E tū member Steven Vincent, is a man in a million after surviving being crushed in a press at Carter Holt Harvey LVL plant at Ruakaka in Northland.

“Basically, I broke just about every bone in my upper body,” Steve says. “I had about a 10% chance of survival, it was touch and go. That first night at the hospital they didn’t think I’d last the night.”

But he did, and last month he was in court to hear the company sentenced, after WorkSafe found the LVL press machine wasn’t guarded, in breach of CHH’s health and safety procedures.

Steve received reparations of $55,000 – though that pales beside the $371,000 in fines and costs for the Government. Steve regards the reparations as “a real cop-out. We were pretty annoyed and we’re still annoyed. I’m still waiting for the Government to write and thank me for the big fine they got,” he says.

The judge added $60,000 to the fine, noting the 26 other health and safety breaches at CHH related to a lack of machine guarding.

A guarding programme has been implemented, though Steve says: “with all those other incidents, you have to wonder is the message getting across? If they’d been fined a million dollars, as they are in other parts of the world, would it have happened?
I doubt it.”

On the plus side, Steve says the company has treated him well, paying for treatment including surgery, and he has also returned to work part-time. However, the future is unclear due to the nature of his injuries.

“I’m down to about 48% lung capacity so I lose so much energy,” he says.

Steve pays tribute to another E tū member, Grant Fischer, a co-worker and paramedic, who acted quickly when Steve got caught in the press, leaving other co-workers frozen in shock. Steve calls him the hero of the night.

“He pulled me out, patched me up, gave me pain relief and got me to the hospital. He saved the day that night.”

E tū understands CHH has spent about $2 million so far on a guarding programme in the wake of Steve’s accident.

Member profile: Lavina Rickard

Stand strong in any language

Lavina Rickard is a delegate at Sanford mussel processing plant in Havelock. She’s been a union member since the early 2000s and enjoys her role as a team leader on the cleaning shift.

Lavina has ten years’ experience as a delegate and has enjoyed using the skills learnt through union education opportunities and involvement on her Industry Council. “I’ve found the training awesome and have met a lot of good and different people through the union,” she says.

One of the big steps Lavina took was to support migrant workers at her workplace by getting union recruitment material translated into different languages.

“At Sanford’s Havelock, we have a lot of migrant workers. Many of them speak English as a second language, which makes recruiting hard for a start. Sometimes you can get lost in translation.

“I have got French, Portuguese, Hindi, Chinese, and Samoan. I’m still waiting on some others. We need to get the message out there, so it’s good to have as many languages as we can. It’s a slow process, but a couple of my fellow Industry Council members are helping me out with it.

“I’m asking people I work with to help with translations, as well as using other connections I have.”

Lavina says migrant workers often don’t know their rights and are afraid that raising issues could threaten their visas.

“I’ve talked to people in the past and told them that they are due a pay rise, but they’ve been too shy to go to the boss because they are on a working visa. I’ve told them this has nothing to do with the visa.”

Lavina joined the E tū Manufacturing and Food Industry Council this year. She enjoys the role because it gives her contact with other delegates from similar workplaces.

“I keep in touch with people from Sealord, King Salmon, and places like that, to see what’s happening on their worksites. We look at what’s happening in the industry and talk about any changes.”

Lavina knows that the workers in the seafood industry deserve better pay and Sanford’s can afford to pay it.
”Sanford’s is doing really well. $42.3 million profit this year! When we heard that, we were like ‘what? Where is our pay rise! Come on’.”

The Living Wage is on the agenda for Sanford workers. Lavina is happy to see her fellow Sanford E tū members down in Bluff leading the charge with the launch of the Living Wage Bluff Network.

Sanfords employs a lot of temps and has high turnover.

But that doesn’t stop Lavina recruiting as many as she can. She has one message for her fellow E tū members: “Stand strong.”

Campaigning for our future

Changes to employment law

The Government has passed the Employment Relations Amendment Bill, strengthening our rights at work. E tū campaigned for a worker-friendly Government and has worked to influence the final changes, which will all come into effect by 6 May 2019. We have restored many of the rights lost under the last Government and this is just the start of what E tū will campaign to do over the next 18 months.

Compulsory rest and meal breaks restored

People working eight-hour shifts are now entitled to two paid 10-minute breaks on top of the unpaid half-hour lunch break. Workers with shorter shifts get extra paid break time as well depending on hours worked.

Better tools for union organising

Many of the changes relate to unions and building organising power at work. Some of the most significant changes include:

  • Workers will have extended protections against discrimination based on their union membership, including either being a member or considering becoming member. An employer’s behaviour may be deemed discriminatory if it occurs within 18 months of a worker undertaking union activities.
  • Delegates will get paid time off to carry out union duties, such as being involved in bargaining and participating in union education. The employer can only deny this if it creates an unreasonable disruption to the company.
  • Access rights restored for union officials. Organisers can, once again, enter a workplace without first seeking consent, but there must be at least one worker covered by the union collective agreement, or in the process negotiating one.
  • Businesses must now enter into bargaining for multi-employer collective agreements (MECAs), if asked to join that agreement by a union. They will not have to settle a MECA if they have reasonable grounds not to.
  • Employers must pass on information about unions to new workers. E tū will be producing specific recruitment material for different industries and organisations for this purpose.
  • Many other changes that improve union power in all union activities, from recruitment to negotiations to industrial action.

Protection for vulnerable workers

Employees in specific industries can keep the current terms and conditions in their employment agreement if their work is restructured, regardless of how big the employer is. Workers had previously been excluded from this protection if they worked for a small organisation.  This applies to workers in ‘vulnerable industries’ (such as cleaning and catering services) and we can now seek to have other workforces (such as security) protected by this law.

Reinstatement

Reinstatement has been restored as the first course of action considered by the Employment Relations Authority when workers are unfairly dismissed, meaning that if you lose your job wrongfully, the Employment Relations Authority will prioritise getting you back to the same job if you want to return.

90-day trial periods restricted

Employers can no longer write 90-day trial periods into agreements unless they employ fewer than 20 people. Ninety-day trial periods allow employers to fire workers without giving any reason, which denies workers their right to fair go at a new job.

Ready for Fair Pay Agreements

E tū has led the call for Fair Pay Agreements since the 2017 election campaign. Fair Pay Agreements is the Labour Party’s policy to establish industry-wide bargaining, which means setting minimum pay and conditions across an entire industry.

Workers in the cleaning and security industries would benefit greatly from Fair Pay Agreements as their pay and conditions are among the country’s worst. A significant factor is the contracting model, which incentivises companies to have a ‘race to the bottom’ by paying the lowest wages to win the right to deliver a service.

E tū is part of the Government working group to develop a Fair Pay Agreement framework and our members are active in making sure Labour’s coalition partner, NZ First, understands the importance of this policy.

E tū security and cleaning members met with NZ First MP Fletcher Tabuteau, in Rotorua last month to explain how Fair Pay Agreements could be life-changing for people in low wage industries.

The meeting was an initiative of Te Runanga o E tū. Our Runanga President Sharryn Barton says the setting of fair pay and conditions for some industries is desperately needed.

“The poverty some of our members experience is heart-breaking,” Sharryn says.

“You have people doing hard work, often at all hours of the day, who just aren’t getting paid enough to make ends meet. The system we have isn’t working for them.

“Setting minimum pay and standards across an industry through Fair Pay Agreements would even up the playing field and give all workers in a particular industry the ability to negotiate what they deserve.”

Government considers tender changes

Firms tendering for Government contracts may soon have to guarantee decent jobs and wages. Talks are underway to secure new government rules for tendering out contracts, a process known as procurement.

Contracting hurts our members as clients demand and reward ever lower tenders, resulting in low pay, insecure work and long hours.

Clients who tender out services like security and cleaning include government agencies such as schools, courts, the Ministry of Justice, the police and The Ministry of Social Development.

Rachel Waru

“To get a cleaning contract, companies undercut everyone else and then they cut our hours,” says Invercargill cleaner and delegate, Rachel Waru. “When hours and pay are cut, people can’t afford to live.”

But the Government and your union are discussing new rules for purchasing government services, which could mean greatly improved pay and working conditions. Your union is advocating for ethical practices, including secure jobs and the Living Wage.

“I think that would be good if we could pull that through,” says delegate and security guard Kenneth Renata, who earns 25 cents more than the minimum wage. Rachel says change can’t come soon enough. Meanwhile, she says as cleaning contracts shrink,
so have members’ jobs.

“It’s happening everywhere. You’re expected to do the same amount of work for less hours. One lady had a job cut from one hour to 15 minutes. I mean, by the time you clock in, you’re hardly going to be doing anything. What’s the point?”

Editorial – Standing up together for ‘the union pay premium’

Welcome to the final edition of our union magazine for 2018. The articles reflect the diverse challenges and achievements of our members across our union.

It’s a privilege to welcome the many new members who joined our union in 2018, including our very recent new members at Hobbiton outside of Matamata.

We are working alongside our Hobbiton members to develop a strong democratic union organisation at work. My thanks to Christaan Burgess, our E tū delegate from Waitomo Caves, who came along to help out at the Hobbiton meetings.

Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves are union workplaces with E tū members – why not take your family or friends for a visit these holidays?

It hasn’t been an easy year for many. I want to acknowledge those of our E tū members at Hutumaki in Auckland who have been facing redundancies. Thankfully they are covered by a good union redundancy agreement.

We have worked hard to negotiate good wages and conditions this year.

It was an honour to join our Pacific Steel members on the picket line as they took action for a fair deal at work. I also joined with our tenacious Air Nelson flight attendant delegates to achieve a good settlement after 17 months of bargaining!

By the time you read this, our Government will have passed a range of employment-related policies that will even up the imbalance of power held by employers and give us a proper chance of getting a better deal at work.

Business leaders and their politicians say these improvements are bad for business. The fact is that they don’t like unions because we make a big difference for working people, achieving what researchers call the ‘union pay premium’.

Independent research by the Centre for Labour, Employment and Work (CLEW) at Victoria University in Wellington has proved that being a union member pays off.

Their independent survey of union collective agreements shows that wages in union agreements increased by an average 2.2% over the past year. Union collective agreements in the private sector did even better increasing on average by 2.9%.

Compare that to the 1.9% average increase across all New Zealand wage and salary earners in the same period as measured by the Labour Cost Index.

While just 1% of working people covered by union collective agreements got no wage increase, the figure is 46% when measured across all New Zealand workers.

It’s simple really, there is strength in numbers and standing together in union means a better chance of a better deal.

I would also like to acknowledge the Pike River families, as they have finally have confirmation of a manned re-entry into the drift. This has been a hard battle for a very long time, but the Coalition Government have pulled out the stops for them. I particularly acknowledge Andrew Little, the minister responsible (and my old boss), for being on the side of the families all the way.

E tū is a union that always looks to the future. We are working with government, community and employer groups to identify the skills needed for the jobs of the future and we are involved in developing strategies like the Just Transition, to ensure a better chance of alternative employment security for working people as we face an uncertain future.

Within our union we are reviewing our structure to see how we can better allocate our resources to provide good service to our members while also aligning resources to grow our membership, power and influence. I expect to report on that to our Delegate Forums and membership meetings in 2019.

Thank you for being an E tū member and, on behalf of our Presidents and National Executive, I wish all E tū members a great summer break.

Notices

Getting workers home safe and healthy

WorksafeReps is owned and operated by the Workers’ Education Trust, established by the PPTA, PSA, RMTU, NZNO, DWU and the NZCTU to provide education courses in health and safety at work.

To book a course, or for more information: www.worksafereps.co.nz 0800 336 966

Community Support Industry Council

Applications are invited from Community Support Sector members to fill a vacancy on their sector Industry Council. The Council sets the organising and strategic plan for the aged care, disability, mental health, and home support sectors of E tū. Applications close 30 January 2019.

For expressions of interest or request for more information, contact: alastair.duncan@etu.nz.

Union Support

If you need any support or advice about issues at work, contact Union Support to speak with an organiser. 0800 1 UNION (0800 186 466) support@etu.nz

Our digital union

Join online!

New E tū members can now join online with just a few clicks! This is the easiest way to make sure that all your colleagues join the union. No more paper forms and envelopes – direct people to www.etu.nz/join and play your part in growing our union!

My E tū

My E tū allows you to update your personal information, set your communication preferences and edit other personal details. The site hosts E tū news so you can find information on what’s happening in your union. Members are also able to view their collective agreements, request a chat with Union Support, register interest for training courses through the portal, and a whole lot more!

Have you visited the members-only website yet? Logging in is easy:

  • Click ‘member login’ at the top right of www.etu.nz or go to www.members.etu.nz.
  • Have your membership number ready, which can be found on your membership card. If you don’t have that handy please call Union Support on 0800 1 UNION (0800 186 466).
  • Follow the instructions to set your password.

Then you are in!

Delegate Portal

E tū’s digital capabilities have taken another leap forward this month. We are very excited to announce the launch of Delegate Portal, where delegates are given the digital tools to organise their workplaces easily and effectively.

To log into the Delegate Portal, simply log into My E tū using the instructions on this page and click the ‘Delegate’ button at the top right of the screen.

From here, delegates can:

  • access E tū documents and information specially developed for our delegates
  • access relevant articles and learning opportunities
  • access your bargaining documents
  • connect with other members and share information in real time
  • easily update membership details and communication preferences
  • see the details about your members on your site, who left our union, a new member on your site, correct your members’ data
  • add a new member utilising online joining
  • see the current collective agreement and historic data related to bargaining
  • order E tū clothing
  • access the organising tools specially created for delegates
  • access all industry news and documents
  • access many health and safety documents
  • communicate with Union Support or your organiser.

Report reveals migrant exploitation

Pay discrimination and poor housing are critical issues revealed in a report commissioned by E tū on the plight of migrant workers.

The report, entitled Migrant Filipino Workers in the Construction Industry, was launched at events in Auckland and Christchurch late last month.

Funded by the Industrial Relations Fund, the research records the experiences of migrants, mostly Filipino construction workers in Christchurch and Auckland in 2017 and 2018.

The average wage in construction is $29.00 – not one of the migrants interviewed was paid this, with some paid as little as $19.00 an hour.

“They are international workers with a lot of skill and experience,” said one migrant. “They have no other choice but just to grab it.”

The report reveals the workers were often placed in overpriced, over-crowded and unhealthy housing. In one case, up to 20 workers shared a four-bedroom house.

Many were being gouged by immigration companies, while most said their pay was too low to qualify for extended or permanent working visas or residency.

The report recommends Government action to close the pay gap, to ensure adequate housing for migrants, and to examine the problems they face with visas and immigration processes.

E tū organising

Strike at Pacific Steel

Workers at Bluescope Pacific Steel walked off the job and onto the picket line last month for a 24-hour strike in support of a decent wage rise. An overtime ban is also in place at the mill.

The strike is in protest over a low-ball pay offer – despite Bluescope doubling its profit this year to AUD$1.6 billion. Dividends improved for shareholders but there is little for workers.

In New Zealand, the company’s earnings improved by more than 80 percent – the highest return in the group – and members say they’ve earned a fair deal.

Mill delegates say they feel frustrated after 19 rounds of pay talks, and have issued the following joint statement:

“The current situation has left the members feeling as though they are working for an employer who is not prepared to listen and does not care about the business that they work in. Recent industrial action has done nothing to alter the company’s position.

“This has only strengthened the membership’s resolve to see out the negotiation process.”

Maori TV stalemate

Maori TV members – standing tall on their
picket line

Maori TV members took strike action in August, in a bid to settle their collective agreement.

Although our members were told the channel had no money, they subsequently learned Maori TV had given non-union staff a bonus before Christmas and a wage rise in January.

Talks were close to settling, but then suddenly collapsed. So, it was all go for strike action!

More talks followed with members twice rejecting the channel’s offer. Fresh talks are pending as E tū and you goes to print.

“We’ve had no progress over a year,” says a member. “They have the money to settle this if they want to, but they don’t want to.”

Armourguard Living Wage target

Imagine an industry where you must work 60 hours a week to make ends meet. It’s cold and wet, but often your employer won’t provide basic wet weather gear or a jumper and you are not allowed to wear your own warm clothing. You get sick, but you’re only paid sick leave for 3 hours a day because you’re on a variable-hours contract. That’s what E tū has been told by security workers.

You’ve missed dinner with your kids for the fourth night running because you’re pulling a 14-hour day for your employer, who says you must work, or he’ll only give you 20 hours next week. And you only earn the minimum wage.

Our members tell us this is what life is like working for Armourguard – one of New Zealand’s biggest security firms.

Bargaining team members, Margaret Biddiss and Kenneth Renata

Armourguard is a key government security contractor, providing services for WINZ and Auckland Transport. Armourguard says it won’t pay more because its clients won’t wear the extra cost.

But our members and delegates at Armourguard are determined to win a better deal – and they’re hoping the Government and Auckland’s Mayor will lend a helping hand.

MSD/WINZ is led by Labour Minister Carmel Sepuloni, while Auckland Transport is part of Auckland Council, headed by Mayor, Phil Goff. Both support the Living Wage. The Government is also committed to ensuring all contracted workers in the core public service earn the Living Wage by September 2020.

So, our Armourguard members have written open letters to Carmel and Phil, asking them to put pressure on Armourguard to pay decent wages.

“We think Armourguard’s attitude is a kick in the teeth for their workers,” says delegate, Margaret Biddiss, who is a member of the E tū bargaining team.

“We slog our guts out for them every day, and they don’t care about us. Luckily, we have a plan to take the fight to the bosses,” she says.

You, our members, can help by adding your name to this open letter: email security@etu.nz

Security NZQA Level 2 training

Twelve E tū members from the Wellington region are just about to graduate with their NZQA Level 2 qualification in security. This free accredited course will enable them to progress in their careers and, in some jobs, to achieve substantially higher rates of pay.

The next group of students has just signed up in Auckland, and we are expecting to start a second Wellington course shortly.

Security guards at E tū’s Level 2 training

If you work in security, live in Auckland or Wellington and want to find out how you can access this course, email security@etu.nz or ring 0800 1 UNION (0800 186 466) and ask to speak with Emma Lipscombe.

Taharoa settles Collective Agreement

Talks have staved off strike action at Taharoa Ironsands, where members imposed a loading ban in late August after the company demanded cuts to wages and conditions.

The company finally agreed to renew members’ Collective Agreement with all pay and allowances intact, with members lifting the ban and ratifying the deal late last month.

Taharoa members at the ERA

The collective agreement settlement came on top of an earlier legal win by the union in reversing a company decision to unilaterally stop the payment of a long-standing allowance.

“At the end of the day, we’re happy to do our job,” says a member. He says the membership is “satisfied with the settlement and now we can concentrate on doing our work.

“We’ve got a vested interest in this mine and we would like to see it prosper as well as see the employment continue and benefit the people and the community.”

He says the membership appreciates the massive support by other members of the union, which allowed them to resist a very aggressive employer.

Tahaora Ironsands

Air NZ engineers meet

After meetings in Christchurch and Auckland, E tū members have voted “no” to discussing changes to their working conditions at Air NZ Engineering ahead of collective bargaining.

Peter Lees, E tū Senior delegate at Air NZ Engineering Christchurch says the delegates are working to ensure any changes are put to a vote. “Our aim is to have an over 95% turnout on all voteable issues,”
he says.

Meanwhile, $6 million of savings have been identified by workers at Air NZ Christchurch, in a union-management project to trim costs. A similar process is underway in Auckland.

Air NZ engineering meeting, Christchurch

Win for Gateway worker

“It was a horrific blow. It still is. The money doesn’t change that.”

Nelson member, Caro McFadden has been awarded more than $21,000 by the Employment Relations Authority after her unfair dismissal by Nelson mental health provider, Gateway Trust.

Caro (centre) with Gateway Trust members on strike (see below)

Caro was the coordinator of Snapshot, a community outreach service she set up for young people. Last year she was restructured out of her job.

With the disestablishment of her position, she applied for a new manager’s job, but was told at an informal meeting with her manager that she was unlikely to get the job. Instead, she said he offered her a support role and gave her the weekend to think about it before a meeting on Monday to learn her decision.

Stressed at the loss of her job, Caro’s doctor put her on sick leave, and she couldn’t make the meeting. So, the Trust dismissed her on the grounds of redundancy.

The Authority found the dismissal was unjustified and said “no fair and reasonable employer” would have dismissed her without first meeting face-to-face, once she recovered, to discuss her options. It also found Caro wasn’t given a fair chance to consider alternative work.

Caro says she still misses the job she created eight years ago. But she’s grateful for the support of her union and the ruling, which has given her some breathing space.

“Hats off to the union. If it wasn’t for the union, I probably wouldn’t be sitting with a healthy-looking bank account. I feel for the others though,” she says. “I worry about the service – we all do.”

Strike at Gateway

Gateway Trust members were on the picket line last month during strike action in protest over the Trust’s refusal to settle their Collective Agreement.

Gateway members stand tall for their CA

After the strike, the Trust agreed to talks and as we go to print, an outcome is looking promising, with a settlement expected in early September.

A member says staff are pleased with the outcome, “but they’re feeling very insecure,” due to the mental health sector’s precarious contract arrangements.

“It’s so uncertain. But we’re lucky to have kept the staff we’ve got and got them into the union, because they really appreciate what the union is doing.”

Meanwhile, members have received their back pay from the mental health equal pay settlement which our member says has been “a real shot in the arm.”

The hands that did the talking

The blistered hands of a Sistema worker hit the news and snowballed across social media last month, forcing Sistema to improve its health and safety practices.

The burnt hands of a Sistema worker

Smarting over the photo, and media reports of Sistema as a “sweatshop”, the company is now rotating jobs to combat fatigue and injuries, hi-vis gear costs have been reimbursed, and gloves are provided in different sizes to prevent burns – one size did not fit all!

Staffing numbers on some machines have also been lifted to prevent the injuries revealed in the photo.

But delegate Maria Latu says, despite months of talks, “they’re not giving us what we want which is a decent pay rise!”

Members received a tiny pay offer in August, but rejected it. They want the Living Wage.

More talks were pending as E tū and you goes to print.

The worker behind those burned hands says more needs to be done – that the 60-hour working week is too long and the pay too low: “If I work 40 hours there is not enough to survive. Hence the rates should go up so that I don’t have to work longer hours.”

Meanwhile, our delegates report that hands are being checked, incident forms filled in and injured people sent home. However, they are cynical about whether that will continue.

“They don’t do it every night,” says Maria. “Members are concerned the change is just because we’re in bargaining and once that’s over, it’ll just go back to where they were.”

You can follow progress via our website and Facebook.

This campaign is not over!

HPHE at NZ Post

Below, the delegates of the NZ Post High Performance High Engagement team hitch a lift on a Paxster as talks continue on delivering a High Performance High Engagement model at Post.

The NZ Post HPHE team, Owen Smith (standing), Paulene Flynn (drivers seat), Terry Howells and Carolle Exeter

As part of the process, our Post delegates are now working on how to improve mail delivery at branches where Paxsters are used. HPHE team member, Terry Howell says improving postal rosters is the team’s first project.

“Hopefully the one we’re working on will mean things will be smoother and run easier and the resourcing will be better to stop a lot of unwanted overtime,“ says Terry who has high hopes for HPHE.

“If we can actually work face-to-face like we’ve been doing, I think it’s a much better outcome for everyone.”

The Living Wage is on fire!

On 3 September, Wellington’s Mayor Justin Lester, cut the cake to celebrate Wellington City Council becoming New Zealand’s first fully accredited Living Wage council!

For six years, E tū has worked toward this milestone, alongside other unions, faith groups and community organisations, calling on councils and government to deliver decent wages for employees and contracted staff, like our security guards and cleaners.

E tū members have played a key role in the Council’s move to a Living Wage which has lifted the incomes of so many of our members by as much as 30%. Parking warden Malcolm Hirini, who attended the celebrations explained:

“For me, the Living Wage meant more time. More time with my family. I want to thank the Wellington City Council for giving us this opportunity to spend money in Wellington, live in Wellington, and be a part of Wellington.”

Mayor Justin Lester, who is also an E tū member, said he knows this will make a big difference in Council employees’ lives.

“It means our staff can support their families and enjoy some of the good things in life too, like occasionally going to the movies or going on a holiday.

Communities gather in Auckland to celebrate the 2018 Living Wage Employer list announcement

“I hope this will clear the path to make it easier for other councils to become Living Wage Employers as well.”

In Auckland, Mayor Phil Goff led celebrations to announce the 110 accredited Living Wage Employers for 2018. As Auckland Council takes the second of three steps toward a Living Wage, E tū member, Bernard Hoggins talked about the importance of earning a decent wage.

“My team mates and I are all very enthusiastic about the current progress towards the Living Wage at Auckland Council. The big difference it has made for me is that earlier this year I was able to take a trip to visit my sister and my two year old niece who I hadn’t met yet.”

On 1 September the Government fulfilled its promise to adopt a minimum of the Living Wage for all its directly-employed workers. Now your union is working to see this extended to our members contracted to deliver government services, including cleaners, catering staff and security guards.

The Living Wage is the clarion call for many of our members in bargaining as they seek – and win – fairer pay. As a member posted to our E tū Facebook page: “Woo hoo! starts with one, then it snowballs.”