New Together union offers voice for isolated

Helen Kelly (centre) wants the union movement back on its feet. Photo / APN

People who find it difficult to unionise their workplace or are not covered by a collective agreement are being asked to join Together - a new union created by the Council for Trade Unions (CTU).

CTU president Helen Kelly says a pay and conditions gap has emerged between people in a unionised workforce, working under a collective employment agreement, and those who are not part of a union and have an individual employment contract.

She says the divide can be tracked back to 1991 when the National Government abolished compulsory union membership and brought in the Employment Contracts Act (ECA).

"The change essentially removed union coverage from huge parts of the workforce, particularly the private sector," she says. "It was a deunionisation of the country - union membership in New Zealand just plummeted."

The Labour Relations Act 1987, brought in by then Labour Minister of Employment Phil Goff, had already changed the work landscape by redefining how many people could form a union. Goff raised this from 30 to 1000 members, wiping out dozens of unions.

National's ECA deregulated labour markets and turned all collective agreements into individual contracts. But Labour's Employment Relations Act 2000 restored collective bargaining.

Kelly argues that although the option is available to collectively bargain, few employees feel able to instigate it or unionise their workplace. She is sure there is demand for an organisation to represent people working for small firms and says 90 per cent of staff in private firms are not covered by a collective agreement.

"The union movement has taken a long time to get back on its feet," says Kelly. "We all work under the same employment law, but there are a lot of white-collar workers who work for very low wages [in] very tough jobs."

Kelly says people working in coffee shops and fast food outlets are told when they are wanted and expected to make themselves available at any time.

"That is why collective bargaining is so important, so there is a bargain.

"People such as aged carers are highly skilled in what they do, have highly responsible jobs, but are paid minimum wage. That's because bargaining in the home care sector is impossible."

Kelly says the Together union is aimed at disparate workers who have so far had little chance of union representation.

"We are not trying to undermine other unions in those sectors, such as Unite or the Service & Food Workers union," says Kelly. "Both these unions are a part of Together. Workers want collective bargaining, they want representation and it is our obligation to provide it to them."

The CTU's Together union is being run by its 41 affiliate unions. Kelly says it is easy for people to join without their employers' knowledge as union subs won't need to go through a company's payroll.

"It could be that we have a lot of members in one place, an issue arises in another so we might call out all Together workers to support the issue," says Kelly. "We are not over-selling it at the moment, but the potential is huge."

Together is about to organise a workers' memorial day that may lead to a protest, online petition or a postcard campaign.

Kelly says the union has already had calls from clerical workers, taxi drivers, courier drivers and franchisees interested in joining up.

She says the bulk of the union's membership will come from Together members signing up their family.

But it is not the whole answer to improving pay and conditions. "We still need a law that allows easy access to collective bargaining."

UNION MEMBERSHIP

Documents from the Parliamentary Library show union membership fell 70 per cent from December 1985 (683,006 people) to December 1998 (306,687).

Department of Labour statistics show 3877 collective agreements covered 420,600 people in 2000. By 2008 the number had dropped 30 per cent to 2684 covering 331,800. Survey information shows in March 2008 373,327 people were members of a union - about 21 per cent of employees.

ON THE WEB: www.together.org.nz

Steve Hart is a freelance journalist at www.stevehart.co.nz