THE UNIONIST: Locked out workers, financial crisis, Skinny Santa and more

In The Unionist this week: locked out workers, financial crisis, Skinny Santa and a visiting Pay and Employment Equity expert from Scotland.

Bus Drivers Locked Out for Offering Free Rides

Hamilton bus drivers employed by Go Bus have been locked out for planning to offer passengers free fares.

Karl Andersen from the National Distribution Union said today the drivers began a one day strike this morning and planned to refuse to accept fares on an ongoing basis.

"The company has responded by locking the drivers out indefinitely," he says.

The drivers are paid $13.50 an hour and are trying to negotiate a new pay scale that would take them to $16 an hour.

Support the Locked Out Bus Drivers: gather at the Transport Centre in Hamilton at 9.30am this Monday 24th of November.

Workers must not bear brunt of behaviour of unregulated 'corporate cowboys'

Workers, represented by trade unions, must be given a seat at the table to negotiate a new world economic order following settlement of the global financial crisis, unions said this week at the Group of 20 nations meeting in Washington.

Sharan Burrow, head of both the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the International Trade Union Confederation, lead a group of international unions at meetings in Washington, and said the message from unions to the G20 was there could not be a continuation of business as usual.

Sharan Burrow

“Working families are suffering enormously as a result of the cavalier, unregulated behaviour of corporate cowboys over the past decade,” Ms Burrow said.

“They are the ones who are losing homes, jobs and pensions because of a financial crisis they did not cause. As taxpayers, they are being called on to bail-out those who are responsible."

“This can’t be allowed to happen again. We need a new global financial and economic architecture, and working people require a seat at the table in these meetings and institutions."

The ITUC, along with the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, has drawn up The Global Unions “Washington Declaration” which seeks to set out a path towards a new approach to the global economy.  The document proposes a co-ordinated recovery plan for the real economy, re-regulation of global financial markets, and a new international system of economic governance. 

Dangers in trade agreements - NZ bank workers union

Meanwhile, bank workers’ union Finsec says that there is huge danger the P4 free trade negotiations could worsen the global financial crisis if further liberalisation of financial services forms part of the agreement.

Australia and Peru announced today they are set to join in the talks between P4 nations (New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei) and the United States.

“The deregulation of financial services is a core component of free trade talks.  It would be crazy in the current environment to seek further financial service liberalisation when it is now commonly understood that such a hands off approach to financial regulation got us into the current mess,” said Finsec Campaigns Director Andrew Campbell.

“New Zealand should be pushing for consistent global regulatory reform of financial services, not engaging in a set of trade negotiations that seek to remove rules and open our financial markets up to unfettered competition." 

“Now is the time for fresh thinking about how we can make our financial systems work in the interests of real people and the real economy. Liberalising financial services through an expanded P4 negotiation is not the direction we should be heading in,” said Campbell.

Christmas Grinch at Farmers  

Workers at Farmers Trading Company were joined by McDonalds workers and other unionists in a 'Skinny Santa' parade up Queen Street in Auckland this afternoon.

"Most Farmers staff are only paid between $12 and $13.50 an hour. That is simply not enough to live on these days," Maxine Gay, Retail Sector Secretary for the National Distribution Union said.

The parade was part of a union campaign for a minimum $15 an hour pay rate for all workers.  Maxine Gay said there is a broad consensus around the need to stimulate the economy to combat a deepening recession, and that paying workers a living wage would be a good place to start.

The Council of Trade Unions backed the campaign by Farmers workers.

“These loyal workers at the retail chain deserve better, and we’re calling on Farmers to stop being the Christmas Grinch, and come back to the negotiations with an offer that respects the worth of their workforce,” CTU president Helen Kelly said.

“The workers action also highlights the need for wider structural changes to our economy to lift our low wages.  Unions recognise that these are difficult economic times but this current financial crisis is not the fault of ordinary workers.”

“Unions will continue to advocate keeping up momentum on lifting real wages, and an important part of that is the minimum wage continuing to rise, to protect the incomes of the lowest paid,” Helen Kelly said.

Scottish Pay and Employment Equity Expert Tours

A Scottish Pay and Employment Equity expert lands tomorrow in New Zealand for a three-week guest speaker tour.

Glyn Hawker is Scotland’s Organiser for Bargaining and Equal Pay for the public sector union UNISON.  A teacher and community development worker by trade, Glyn has strategic responsibility across all service groups including Local Government, Health, Higher Education, Transport, Police and the Community and Voluntary sector.

The main focus of Glyn’s visit is on UNISON’s organising work in the Scottish community and voluntary sector, including a pact recently signed between Scottish unions, employers and umbrella organisations to ensure that front line staff employed by voluntary organisations enjoy broadly comparable terms and conditions to their counterparts in the public sector.

In Wellington Glyn will also address meetings about public sector union issues and about the UK experience of applying their Equal Pay legislation, with a focus on local government, health and higher education. 

During her New Zealand visit, Glyn will speak at a range of events, including:
• Wellington, Monday December 1: A forum on the “UK Equal Pay Experience” hosted by the PSA – contact Melinda Derbidge, 04 917 0333 or email Melinda.Derbidge@psa.org.nz
• CTU Think ‘n’ Drink, Tuesday December 2: “Public Sector Union Issues In The UK” – contact Suzanne McNabb, 04 801 4798 or email Suzanne.McNabb@aus.org.nz
• ‘Valuing the Work of Our Sector’ – a series of three seminars on community sector employment issues, being held in Hamilton (November 27), Wellington (December 3) and Christchurch (December 4). Contact Conor Twyford, 021 213 2553 or ere.project@gmail.com

For more information about Glyn’s visit, please contact: Conor Twyford, Resource Officer, Workplace Wellbeing Project, 021-213-2553, ere.project@gmail.com

Events Calendar