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Two of the country's largest unions are in talks about a possible amalgamation.
Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) national secretary John Ryall today said he had been in talks with the National Distribution Union (NDU) about a merger.
He said the talks were still at a preliminary stage, but a merger offered potential benefits to both unions.
Both were focused on lifting the pay of low income private sector workers and he said joining forces would boost the level of resources available for specific campaigns.
However, Mr Ryall said there were several hurdles to a merger - the first being whether the unions had a shared strategic vision.
If that was established then they would have to see if they could agree on structural and organisational issues.
Any subsequent agreement would be subject to a vote from both unions, which each have around 20,000 members.
Mr Ryall said t wo attempts to merge the unions in the 1990s had failed.
NDU secretary Laila Harre said the talks were a SFWU initiative.
She said NDU staff had the union's consent to engage in talks, but they were at too preliminary a stage to comment.
- NZPA
