October, 2005

The Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association attempt to blame Government spending for interest rate rises is not credible said Peter Conway, Council of Trade Unions Economist.

"Film sets in New Zealand don't need to be unsafe" said Ross Wilson, President of the Council of Trade Unions this morning. He was responding to a report of significant unsafe practices on Peter Jackson's King Kong set in Wellington, in this morning's Dominion Post newspaper.

"Striking members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and the Service & Food Workers Union have the full support of the union movement," said Council of Trade Unions President Ross Wilson.

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions is urging Air New Zealand management to reconsider its decision to make up to 600 workers redundant in its engineering services division.

The Council of Trade Unions says that $12 an hour is not an unreasonable level for the minimum wage, and should be applied as soon as possible.

"There is now a general acceptance that we have a low wage crisis in New Zealand," said Carol Beaumont, Secretary of the Council of Trade Unions.

"Many employers recognize that there is a skills shortage. However they need to take the next step ? and realise that one solution to the skills shortage is better pay for their workers. Workers should be getting a fair share of corporate profits

"We are sick of tired rhetoric that suggests increases in the minimum wage will lead to higher levels of unemployment. The last six years stand as evidence to the contrary ? a 35.7% increase in the minimum wage over the last six years has coincided with the lowest unemployment in decades."

"The CTU is rejecting the notion that a $12 increase in the minimum wage will be unmanageable by business," said Carol Beaumont. "We believe that a low minimum wage entrenches a low-wage, low-skill, low technology approach to employment, and this is not the direction New Zealand needs to be heading."

"Clearly the CTU welcomes a minimum wage level of $12 an hour. We welcome the moves the Labour led government has already made on the minimum wage increases over the last six years," said Carol Beaumont.

The Council of Trade Unions ended its three day biennial conference in Wellington this afternoon. Delegates voted on a resolution from conference, which is attached.

That the NZCTU Conference 2005 resolves that it:

celebrates the success made in consolidating unionism in Aotearoa/New Zealand and pledges to increase the activity and momentum around a strategy to rebuild union density, organising, capacity and power, particularly in the private sector, and on an industry basis;

recognises the importance of developing the role of unions as the representative voice of working people and as a social partner from a position of being a large and well organised independent union movement;

will continue to build an active and inclusive way of working that provides opportunities to be involved locally, in communities of interest, politically and industrially;

resolves to continue our campaign to lift wages to a livable level, noting the 30% wage gap with Australia, and to develop a 'targeted campaign' for low-income workers;

undertakes to further develop worker participation to ensure there is a strong worker voice on workplace issues and industry or departmental strategies;

challenges business to meet with unions on an industry basis where wages and collective bargaining are put on the agenda alongside skill development and productivity;

calls on the Government to promote a sustainable development framework that actively involves unions and workers in economic and social development in a comprehensive rather than ad hoc way;

will increase opportunities for union members to be active on political issues in communities;

will continue our regular engagement with Government at CTU : Government forums;

pledges to work with the Government to protect and build state sector capacity, improve vital social services, demonstrate best-practice in terms of state sector pay, conditions, retirement savings and other employment matters, and the building of co-operative workplaces, participatory decision-making, tripartism, and satisfying and rewarding work;

supports a continuing policy programme by Government to address:

* vulnerable workers
* dependent contractors
* workers employed by temporary work
* agencies and labour hire companies
* portability of entitlements
* the minimum wage
* underfunding and low wages paid in the Aged Care and other sectors
* the issue of low paid workers in the * public sector
* ILO Convention 138
* meal and refreshment breaks
* redundancy law
* equal pay and pay and employment equity
* paid parental leave
* MECA bargaining in the state sector
* responsible contractor policy
* ILO Convention 155
* ongoing funding of health and safety representatives' training
* work:life balance
* higher levels of investment in skill development

will continue to work with parliamentary parties that share our policies and objectives, and to work closely with these parties to achieve such policies and objectives;

will continue with major CTU projects on health and safety training, productivity, learning representatives, and Maori economic development;

supports mechanisms to promote and reflect diversity at all levels so members can see themselves reflected in the union movement;

resolves to continue our international work including active involvement in SPOCTU and support for development projects in the Asia Pacific region;

calls for the implementation of ILO Conference resolutions to impose trade sanctions against the Burmese military r?gime until the cease the use of forced labour;

will continue our work opposing free trade in a global marketplace dominated by multinational enterprises and propose instead fair trade based on sustainable development.

The Council of Trade Unions has today welcomed the announcement of Helen Clark's third Cabinet.

"This Cabinet is a strong signal of the Government's commitment to an investment approach to economic and social development," said Ross Wilson, CTU President.

"We particularly welcome the appointment of Ruth Dyson as Minister of Labour," said Ross Wilson. "Ruth has demonstrated her ability and integrity as a politician and we look forward to working with her in this new role."

"The CTU conference has reaffirmed our commitment to investment in skills, infrastructure, and support for lifting wages alongside productivity. We will be looking for this commitment from the new Cabinet also," said Ross Wilson.

Unions need to continue their campaign for fair wage increases said Council of Trade Unions President Ross Wilson, in his speech this morning to the CTU Biennial Conference.

"It is now widely acknowledged that there is a low wage crisis in New Zealand," said Ross Wilson. "New Zealand workers have a compelling case for a wage increase. With corporate profits and director's fees up significantly (see appendix), there is now no excuse for employers not to deliver on better pay for their staff."

"New Zealand's average wage is 30% lower than in Australia, and our minimum wage is 46% lower than that for Australian workers," said Ross Wilson.

Ross Wilson used his opening speech to the conference to state the CTU's three key demands of more widespread collective bargaining, another increase in the minimum wage, and a series of industry meetings where wages are put on the agenda alongside skill development and productivity.

"The CTU believes workers deserve a fair share right now," said Ross Wilson. "We also recognises that a high wage, high skill economy also needs to be highly productive, and the CTU is launching a massive programme to work with unions on productivity issues."

"The CTU is supporting workers taking strike action to achieve decent pay increases," said Ross Wilson. "Many employers this year have reached an amicable settlement on wage increases of 5% or more. But those employers holding out will continue to face industrial action".

Ross Wilson also said that the CTU does not believe there is a wage-price spiral.

"Many of the economists that warn about the labour market putting pressure on inflation were happy to ignore any inflationary impact of the massive tax cuts promised by the National Party. All of a sudden, post-election, they are now calling for interest rates to rise again," said Ross Wilson".

"But more importantly, wage rises are not inflationary if part of the wage increase is out of profits, and if productivity is improving. The main pressure on inflation at the present time comes from oil prices and housing ? not from wages."

The conference continues till Wednesday afternoon. Speech notes are available at: /policy/112950764622400.html

APPENDIX

From 2000 to 2004, the Reserve Bank (1) notes that corporate profits increased by 11% a year. This can be compared with wage rises of just under 2.1% a year in that period. Unit labour costs fell by nearly 1% a year for the last 5 years. In the last year, Director's fees went up by 20.5%. Executive pay rates (except for one survey in late 2004) have regularly gone up by twice as much as workers' pay. And the change in real wages over a longer period from 1980 to 2001 shows an actual fall for New Zealand of 6.5% compared with a range of other countries where there were significant increases (eg. Australia 28.8%, Canada 39.5%, UK 46.9% and Finland 68.2%).

Wage levels fell from roughly comparable to Australia in the 1980s to 60% of their level by 2002 according to Treasury (2). The paper notes that "with labour relatively cheaper in relation to capital than in Australia, it appears that New Zealand firms have opted for a lower level of capital intensity".

1 Goh, Khoon (2005). "Developments in the New Zealand corporate sector" Reserve Bank Bulletin, Vol 68.No. 2.

2 Melleny Black, Melody Guy and Nathan McLellan. "Productivity in New Zealand 1988 to 2002 New Zealand". NZ Treasury Working Paper 03/06 June 2003.

"Over 12,000 more workers have recognised the importance of joining together in unions," said Carol Beaumont, Secretary of the Council of Trade Unions.

The latest figures from the Industrial Relations Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, released today, show an increase of 12,427 more union members (up 3.4% from 2003) and that since 1999 NZ unions have grown in membership by 17% - an increase of 51,643 members.

Delegates at Council of Trade Unions conferences in Wellington over the next 5 days will discuss a range of issues relating to Maori economic and social development.

A weekend hui for Maori workers begins tomorrow at Tapu Te Ranga Marae. A major focus of the hui will be Maori social and economic development, whanau development and succession planning. A key aspect of the weekend will be discussion of the CTU's HANGI project ? Helping Advance Nga Mahi in Growth and Innovation. The project, a follow up initiative from the Hui Taumata conference on Maori economic development earlier this year, focuses on workplace productivity, education and training for Maori workers.

The Council of Trade Unions conference is taking place from Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th of October. On Tuesday October 18th the conference will see the election of the CTU's first Maori Vice President, the gifting of a Maori name to the CTU and the presentation of Te Rūnanga o Ngā Kaimahi Māori o Aotearoa, the CTU's representative body for Māori workers whose unions are affiliated to the CTU.

Summary of events on Tuesday October 18 2005
? 9 am - 10.30 Workshop on Economic and Social Development (case study HANGI project)
? 11.30 am Te Rūnanga presentation
? 11.45 am Gifting of Te Kauae Kaimahi
? 3.35 pm Election of Maori Vice President

The Council of Trade Unions wants to see workers in unions as key participants in the task of building a high wage, high skill, high quality economy, as it launches a new booklet today for union delegates and members, called Your Job. Your Industry. Your Future.

The Council of Trade Unions is dismayed by the recently released New Zealand Income Survey, which shows a widening gap in the income between men and women.

The NZ Income Survey for the June 2005 quarter, released by Statistics New Zealand, shows that pay for full time men went up approximately 6.3% since the June 2004 quarter, compared with 3.2% for women. The rates for male part time workers increased by 8%, as compared to 2.8% for women. Overall, this means that the gender pay gap has increased ? with women earning 82% on average of what men do, as compared to 86% in 2004.

The Council of Trade Unions has condemned the overreaction by Carter Holt Harvey in sending police wagons to meet union negotiating teams at their laminated veneer plant yesterday.

The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) is organising support for striking workers at Southward Engineering in Wellington, who have been suspended without pay by their employer. The workers, members of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) are campaigning for a 5% pay increase.

The Council of Trade Unions is today lending its support to striking Guardian Healthcare workers. Members of the Service & Food Workers Union and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation began a 24 hour strike at 7am this morning, after their employer refused to make a new offer and cancelled scheduled negotiation talks.