New E tu union seeks relevance in changing labour market
By Paul McBeth
Oct. 7 (BusinessDesk) - The newly formed E tu union, created through the merger of the Engineering, Printing and
Manufacturing Union and the Service and Food Workers Union, wants to make organised labour relevant to workers again in
a bid to catch up with changing employment trends.
The two private sector unions unveiled their new name and logo at a launch in Wellington after the 50,000 or so members
of each organisation voted to support the amalgamation. National secretary Bill Newson said the merged entity would be
in a stronger position to address the changing face of work as new technology continues to replace workers and
employment practices embrace the use of casual and contract staff.
"Fundamental changes in how work is organised, even engaged in, are going to challenge us more and more as we work into
the future," Newson said. "We've got to be strong enough and effective enough to influence the course and content of
employment in this country."
The merger was three years in the making, and members of the EPMU and SWFU workers gave it the final go-ahead in August,
creating the country's biggest private sector union and second largest behind the Public Service Association. Private
sector union membership has shrunk to about 9 percent, while public sector unionism sits at around 58 percent, meaning
about 13 percent of the nation's workforce is part of a union.
E tu, which translates to 'stand tall' from Maori, wants to make itself more relevant to a more diverse workforce and is
also looking at ways it can represent contractors, who aren't able to bargain collectively because it breaches
anti-competition rules in the Commerce Act, "because if that's where work's going then we've got to go there," Newson
told BusinessDesk after the meeting. That includes looking at other services contractors need, such as accounting and
legal advice, or insurance.
"If we're going to reach out to them, it's got to be something other than the traditional let's get together to
negotiate a collective agreement," he said. "We have done work on scoping out how we could offer cost-reduced prices
because of scale, those types of services."
The amalgamation has budgeted for a three-year transition plan, taking on all staff from next week before it reviews
resourcing in 18 months' time.
"We're going to run this thing for 18 months then run a bit of a review to make sure everything's running properly in
the right place," he said. "We've got a lot of work to do."
The EPMU attracted about $10 million in subscriptions in calendar 2014, down from $10.2 million a year earlier, and had
cash and equivalents of $5.34 million as at Dec. 31, while SFWU received subscriptions totalling $4.88 million in the
year ended Jan. 31, down from $4.93 million a year earlier, and had cash of about $2.12 million at balance date.
The merger also includes the Flight Attendant and Related Services Association and Newson said he's keen for other
entities to get involved.
"This isn't the end of it," he said. "We've established a new union for the future, and we want to be talking to other
people who might see themselves as part of it."
Newson said the merger had received a mixed response from employers, and E tu will go out to businesses to see how it
can work with firms.
(BusinessDesk)