Author: E tū

Union calls for Just Transition for workers as smelter to close

E tū union is calling for a ‘Just Transition’ for workers in the wake of Rio Tinto’s announcement it will be closing its smelter at Tiwai Point.

Around 1000 workers directly employed by the smelter will be affected, as well as at least a further estimated 1600 workers in the supply chain and local businesses.

Rio Tinto has given notice to terminate its contract with electricity supplier Meridian Energy, which ends in August 2021.

E tū Negotiation Specialist Joe Gallagher says the knock-on effect of the closure will be “huge”.

“This is a significant employer and this company is at the heart of its community. A closure will affect the entire supply chain, including other local suppliers,” he says.

“The smelter produces high grade aluminium and quality jobs for New Zealanders. It doesn’t make sense that as soon as it can’t get energy any cheaper, it abdicates responsibility for its workers.”

Rio Tinto needs to think about the legacy it wants to leave as a company, Joe says.

“To be clear, the closure will have an effect on the whole of Southland.”

Joe says the Government needs to consider a similar approach to that used in Taranaki with the Taranaki 2050 Roadmap, to ensure a Just Transition takes place.

“The Government should use the expertise, knowledge, and methodology that the Taranaki 2050 Roadmap partners have built in the region, but developing it at a much quicker pace for Southland with substantial investment early on.

“It has the opportunity post-COVID-19 to show a pathway forward for a proper, fair and just transition, including enabling workers to retrain or redeploy, while involving them, their communities, and iwi to rebuild better in the region.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Joe Gallagher, 027 591 0015

Union calls for mandatory safe staffing after global report

E tū union supports a global call for better conditions for aged care workers to prevent future worker shortages, as highlighted in a recent OECD report.

The report, Who Cares? Attracting and Retaining Care Workers for the Elderly, draws attention to the poor pay and prospects of the profession, its physical and mental risks, and lack of training opportunities – all of which affect the length of time workers stay in the profession.

In New Zealand, the issue of safe staffing in aged care facilities is long-standing, as staff to resident ratios are not mandatory.

As shown in the OECD’s report, the median tenure estimated for staff across the sector in New Zealand is just 5 years.

An E tū delegate in a North Island aged care facility who wants to remain anonymous, says her experiences during COVID-19 have exacerbated the issues of an “already broken system”.

“The public would be horrified to know the everyday reality is not as it is depicted in the glossy brochures.

“Reality in my facility is a resident not missing just one shower, but not having a shower for almost three weeks. Reality is your loved one going hungry if there are not enough caregivers to help those that need assistance to eat,” she says.

“If I was a family of a resident, I would be really concerned that staffing levels are simply not safe.”

During COVID-19, staff were under even more pressure as carers resigned over the lack of PPE or took leave as they felt their family circumstances posed a risk of introducing the virus into the care home, she says.

She says unsafe staffing levels are not only detrimental to residents, but also have a knock-on effect on the sector as a whole.

“Unless working conditions improve, staff will leave the sector and residents will lose the well-trained, qualified teams who work with them day-to-day to deliver the most personal of care and support services to ensure their overall wellbeing.”

E tū Director Sam Jones says New Zealand’s staffing standards, which were set down in 2005, are out-of-date and desperately need to be reviewed to accommodate the complex needs of residents.

“With almost three-quarters of COVID-19 deaths in New Zealand connected to residential aged care facilities, the pandemic has only re-emphasised the urgency of the situation for workers in the aged care sector, as we’ve seen in examples such as the tragic events at Rosewood in Christchurch.”

Sam says addressing staffing levels will also help to combat a potential worker shortage in future.

“We’re calling the Government to set minimum staffing numbers to protect both residents and carers, to ensure we are rebuilding better in the wake of COVID-19. This means prioritising community health and revitalising the sector by providing strong development opportunities and pay that reflects the vital work of caring for our elderly.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Sam Jones, 027 544 8563

Workers’ voices needed in future changes to PPE management

A union for care and support health workers says it is essential that workers’ voices are included in any changes to PPE provision during major health events in future.

On Wednesday, the Auditor General released an overview looking at the management of PPE in New Zealand during COVID-19.

E tū represents 15,000 workers in the health sector, including more than 10,000 in care and support roles such as home support, disability support and residential aged care.

E tū Director Kirsty McCully says workers knew early on there was a major systems failure in access to PPE.

“The experience of E tū members and other frontline healthcare workers varied massively, as outlined in an E tū survey of workers in April and this caused unnecessary stress and concern. Some workers waited weeks for access to PPE.”

Kirsty says workers shouldn’t have had to speak out so strongly in order for the Ministry to revise their initial advice on PPE usage.

“The current contracting system and multiple, layered split of services and tendering processes across DHBs was a major barrier to workers and clients accessing PPE. On top of this, the profit motive, particularly in the residential aged care sector, didn’t help.

“PPE for health care workers needed a much greater level of coordination and better central distribution by the Ministry of Health. However, as the Auditor General comments, the ‘size, scale, and speed of the pandemic required the Ministry to play a strong and decisive leadership role in a largely devolved sector’,” Kirsty says.

“Recommendation three of the report – reviewing how PPE clinical guidelines will be prepared or amended and consistently communicated during emergencies – is absolutely critical to us.

“Workers’ voices needed to have been included from the start in this and we will make sure that any changes following this report are co-designed by workers themselves.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Kirsty McCully, 027 204 6354

Air New Zealand proposes further wage cuts of $150 million

Air New Zealand staff are dismayed and angered at the company’s announcement to cut a further $150 million from their wage bill.

On Friday, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Greg Foran, made the announcement to employees, who are still reeling from the redundancies which have already taken place.

E tū Head of Aviation Savage says with initial labour cost reductions of around $370 million, cuts of a further $150 million will only increase the pain for the airline’s workers.

“Thousands of workers have only got several weeks of work left before being made redundant.

“The company is heavily focused on saving money and is in danger of being blinded to the importance of treating both employees and customers with respect,” Savage says.

Savage says the real danger now is that the company may look to use the threat of outsourcing work to downgrade the remaining jobs.

“We will meet with union members as soon as possible to find out in detail how they want to respond. They have lost trust in senior management because of the way they were treated in the first round.

“The company is facing a big challenge, but now is not the time to repeat their past mistakes. To rebuild better, we need to keep these vital workers in jobs.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Savage, 027 590 0074
  
Rachel Mackintosh, 027 543 7943

‘Brutal’ proposed job cuts at Carter Holt Harvey

Workers are devastated at a restructure proposal which could see more than two-thirds of their team made redundant at Carter Holt Harvey’s remaining Northland timber plant.

In May, the company proposed to cut 68% of its production roles from 241 down to just 77 at their Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) plant at Marsden Point, as part of a plan to abandon export sales and focus on domestic supply only.

Despite LVL receiving around $2.2 million in wage subsidies in the first week of April, workers were forced to use, on average, two weeks of their annual leave during the Level 4 lockdown.

Some workers, who had little or no leave, now face a zero or negative leave balance and redundancy. The company also confirmed it has not ruled out complete closure of the plant.

E tū Industry Councillor Glen Chaplin visited Carter Holt Harvey workers last week and says they are completely demoralised by the proposed redundancy.

“Workers are really devastated and deflated. They don’t know what to do next and don’t necessarily see a path forward for getting other work,” Glen says.

“It’s decision which would potentially leave two-thirds of their workforce out of jobs in an area that’s already economically depressed.”

E tū organiser Annie Tothill says the timing of the proposed cuts is “brutal”.

“The harvesting of workers’ leave means some workers will have nothing left of their leave balance to help support a period of redundancy.

“It is in everyone’s best interest that the wage subsidy is used as intended – for the workers – and we urge Carter Holt Harvey to use the 12-week subsidy to cover the cost of reinstating all that leave to all their workers now.”

Annie says with a number of employers in manufacturing and infrastructure issuing restructure notices with potential redundancies, the Government needs to step in quickly for communities to have justice and to prevent a self-fulfilling cycle of job loss and economic downturn.

It also needs to create an accountable pathway for the timber manufacturing industry to thrive again, including exports, Annie says.

“To rebuild better, we need to keep and increase the number of decent jobs in New Zealand. The jobs at Carter Holt Harvey are good, sustainable manufacturing jobs that provide for hundreds of workers and their families, indeed the whole community.”

The company will announce their decision on 8 June.

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Annie Tothill 027 573 4934

Union calls for investigation into security guards injured in hospital attack

E tū is calling for a serious harm investigation into the case of two security guards who were injured when a staff member was attacked at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital.

On 21 May, two security guards were stabbed with a pair of scissors when they intervened in the attack on a health care assistant.

One of the guards was stabbed in the hand, while the other received stab wounds to the back of the neck.

E tū delegate Gareth Liley is one of the guards who was stabbed and says it’s not the first time workers have been injured on the job.

“We have been warning the DHB of the risk of something like this happening. We want to go home safely to our families, just like everyone else does.

“What we need is the right support, personal protective equipment, staffing levels, and training, to ensure we can keep ourselves and our colleagues safe at work,” Gareth says.

E tū Director Sam Jones says the union has demanded an improvement in working conditions at Counties Manukau District Health Board and that WorkSafe be notified to conduct a serious harm investigation into the incident, with worker representation.

“It appears that despite the stabbings, because no one was in hospital overnight, they don’t see it as serious enough. It’s just unacceptable,” Sam says.

“Violence in the workplace cannot be treated by our health system like business as usual for our essential service workers.”

Bringing in standardised training, pay rates and hours, appropriate PPE, staffing levels and personal support at all DHBs would go a long way to helping the situation, Sam says.

These were all recommendations included in a March 2020 report on New Zealand’s hospital security services by the National Bipartite Action Group. It found that during a 12-month period, there were more than 5000 security incidents, including 230 reported assaults, logged across 13 of 20 DHBs.

Respondents also agreed the number and frequency of acts of aggression in hospitals was on the rise.

Sam says the review was an important piece of work and a good example of health unions and the DHBs working collaboratively to find solutions to an increasingly serious problem across our hospitals.

“We see the recommendations and their integration into the workplace as a crucial step in keeping our frontline health workers and patients safe.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Sam Jones 027 544 8563

Time

by Sean Hindson

We have time, right now – we all have time. I say this because we have time in the form of the moment we are in together; right now.

It’s is the ‘right now’ that we all share, regardless of our beliefs, our fears, our worries, our hopes, or our views on the world.

We can take this ‘right now’ to acknowledge that we are vulnerable, acknowledge that we have made mistakes, acknowledge that we have to (not need to) but have to come together.

The planet we belong to is screaming at us, demanding change. It is showing us through fires, typhoons, floods, and storms that we have to change. The planet is demanding change, it’s demanding it because it too is vulnerable.

Being vulnerable, as we and the planet are, is the catalyst for change.

I have been in discussion with people who deny the fact the world is changing. I have had the ‘what ifs’ thrust upon me. I have had my conversations cut short by those people who refuse to acknowledge the absolute certainty that the impact of humans has transformed our earth.

These people seem to be strong now, but are essentially oblivious to the change that is required by us all to enhance the lives of the generations of youth to whom we will entrust this earth.

Those of us aware of our collective vulnerability are already forging greater change, fighting by looking inwards and having an awareness of the fear we all have, shifting the way we think and allowing ourselves the courage to think differently

Take a moment to think about the courage it takes – undiluted courage – to know that vulnerability is a strength.

The first steps are already being taken around the world. In New Zealand, the Just Transition is to my mind, an acknowledgment of that vulnerability which can be such a strength.

So where do workers and people tie into this? They are at the core, the foundation. Workers are the ones who will essentially have the power to change these mindsets.

We have to change ourselves. It is painful to look in the mirror, acknowledge our faults, and be true to ourselves and each other.

Workers mostly have more to worry about than the long-term future. When we work together, truly work together, to shift those mind sets, to force change in those businesses that do not allow workers to have standards of living that afford them the ability to think compassionately about more than just the immediate future… then we shift the world.

In essence that is the key.

Workers in our regions should be in a position where they can think about the long-term future while acknowledging and appreciating the moment they are in.

This ability comes with equal standards of pay, training, and that most precious of assets… time. Time to share moments with community, family and friends. Time to converse and be open with those that surround you.

I personally reckon we have known this for a very long time. My question is: why has it taken so long for businesses to allow themselves to be vulnerable enough to care in a truly honest and deep way?

After all, time marches on for businesses, too. No one is exempt from the effects of what we are doing to ourselves and our environments, because our environments are, in the end, ourselves.

E tū welcomes Green Party’s pay equity policy

E tū has welcomed the Green Party’s commitment to pay equity for women.

The party’s pay equity policy promises pay equity legislation which includes the recommendations of the Joint Working Group on Pay Equity principles. It would also require greater pay transparency by companies, so people know what men and women in the same workplace are paid.

E tū Industry Coordinator, Jill Ovens says the pay equity policies of both Labour and the Greens recognise the integrity of the court rulings in the case of Kristine Bartlett vs Terranova, as well as the Joint Working Group principles.

“We applaud the fact that this begins to recover the ground that’s been lost under a government which has fought against equal pay,” says Jill.

“In the dying days of the current parliament, the Government introduced a bill that would slam the door on hundreds of thousands of women and their hopes of equal pay. Both Labour and the Greens have promised to put this right, which we absolutely support,” she says.

Jill says the union also supports transparency on pay.

“Knowing what men and women earn quickly reveals any pay gap.  This is essential to ending the traditional gap in pay between men and women doing the same or comparable work.”

E tū Women’s Committee Convenor, Marianne Bishop says under the current bill, care and support workers would have struggled to achieve their historic pay equity settlement.

“I think it’s great because obviously the new bill that National put forward, I don’t feel would have helped us get that settlement,” says Marianne.

“It’s good that parties are all looking at this as an election issue.  People need to remember that when they cast their vote, and vote to support those parties which put forward good pay equity policies.”

ENDS

For further information, contact:

Jill Ovens E tū Industry Coordinator, Public and Commercial, ph. 027 446 4966

Marianne Bishop E tū Women’s Committee Convenor, ph. 021 257 4146.

Chorus enjoys profit as workers lose quality jobs

E tū says Chorus’s profit has been achieved at the expense of quality jobs and the integrity of ultrafast broadband (UFB) connections to homes and businesses.

The Chorus result coincides with cable company Broadspectrum announcing today it will exit its connection contracts in Hamilton, Christchurch, Nelson, Blenheim, Rotorua, Taupo, and Whakatane.

The move will affect 119 jobs, including 35 designers and about 50 technicians, with a net loss of about 65 jobs at this stage.

E tū Industry Coordinator Joe Gallagher says the connection contracts will be picked up by Australian company, Universal Communications Group (UCG), which uses an owner-operator model favoured by Chorus because it cuts costs and enhances their profits.

He expects most of the designers will find new jobs with Broadspectrum which will in future focus on laying UFB cables, as well as maintenance of the legacy copper network.

But he says it’s a different story for the technicians.

“UCG’s owner-operator model will effectively require the technicians to “buy” their new jobs.

“They’ll have to purchase their own vehicle and equipment, at great cost,” says Joe.

“In many cases, people will have to borrow the money for the equipment, but there is no guarantee of sufficient work to pay the bills and ensure a decent living,” he says.

“I think a lot of people will walk away because they can’t afford it.”

Joe says it’s likely much of the work will be picked up instead by unskilled migrants, with a resulting decline in the quality of home and business high-speed internet connections.

“That’s abundantly clear by the situation in Auckland where complaints about installations number in the hundreds,” says Joe.

Joe says the sub-contracting of the work is a direct result of Chorus refusing to properly fund companies like Broadspectrum to build and connect the UFB network.

“Chorus can wash its hands of any responsibility for this work by keeping contracts at arms-length, leaving companies like UCG to hammer down costs on their behalf.

“No one benefits here except Chorus.”

ENDS

For further information, contact:

Joe Gallagher E tū Industry Coordinator ph. 027 591 0015