http://socialistworker.org/2009/04/29/fighting-for-new-zealands-workersRoger Annis, a union activist in Vancouver, Canada and member of the International Association of Machinists, reports on the efforts of New Zealand's Unite union in the fight for better wages and conditions for all workers.
April 29, 2009
THE UNITE union in New Zealand is the country's newest, and among its most dynamic, trade unions. It is at the forefront of a revitalization of a section of the labor movement in New Zealand that has resulted in thousands of young and marginalized workers gaining union representation for the first time and winning significant wage raises, including to the national minimum wage.
On April 6, 2009, I spent a day visiting Unite's offices here in order to learn more about its successes. My day at Unite began with an invitation to observe the weekly, Monday morning staff meeting. Fourteen staff in Auckland were joined via teleconference to three staff who campaign in three other cities--Wellington (New Zealand's capital), Christchurch and Hamilton.
The meeting began with a review of new member recruitment. The previous week was a big one for the union, netting 250 new members. Unite was founded in 2004. In the past year and a half, it has grown by 3,000 to reach 8,000 members. The largest components are fast food, followed by call centers, hotels and a casino, and postal workers.
Many of its members are from the nationally oppressed Maori indigenous and Pacific island populations.
Unite uses a variety of tactics to win members. Staff and volunteers visit worksites and convince workers to sign membership cards. New Zealand law permits access to worksites by union organizers, though they often encounter obstacles.
It has led imaginative and militant strikes once workers vote for action. These have included the world's first strikes at the Starbucks coffee chain, in 2005, and short strikes at MacDonald's outlets in 2006 and again in 2008.
The most important campaigns, which best explain the union's success, are those fought on behalf of all workers. From the start, it fought for a $12 per hour national minimum wage ($6.76 in U.S. dollars) and an end to hated, slave-labor, youth wage rates. It gained support from other unions for these demands, and last year they won. The former Labour Party government legislated $12. The right -ing government elected last November has been pressured to raise it another 50 cents (28 cents in U.S. currency) as of April 1.
FULL story at link.
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