Pay campaign pays dividend

A campaign that led to thousands of New Zealanders getting pay rises of five per cent or more has been judged one of the best of 2005.

The EPMU’s Fair Share – Five in ’05 wages campaign was last night named the winner in the not-for-profit/limited budget category of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand’s annual awards.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said that the union’s main objective last year was to lift the real value of wages in New Zealand, and to raise future wage expectations of working New Zealanders.

“We did it,” he said. “For the first time in more than a decade, thousands of workers won pay rises above the rate of inflation, and the public communications campaign provided vital support for that industrial campaign.”

The campaign was launched in Auckland on February 27 last year in the wake of the collapse of talks to renew the Metals and Manufacturing Industries Collective Agreement, and was joined by most unions.

The PRINZ award goes to Clare Curran of Inzight Communications (Dunedin) and Adelia Hallett of Frontpage Press (Auckland), who developed and executed the communications plan.

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