Cheap doctors' visits top priority for workers
Cheaper doctors' visits and prescription charges are the most significant thing the Labour Government has done for
workers, say union delegates representing 10,000 members of the Service and Food Workers Union Northern Region.
More than 120 delegates were surveyed at forums held in Auckland and Hamilton. They identified cheaper doctors' visits
and getting rid of National's Employment Contracts Act, as being the Labour-led Government's greatest achievements for
workers.
The delegates have been attending forums to discuss critical issues facing union members and the Union's strategy for
addressing these.
SFWU National President Barbara Wyeth said there was a huge amount of optimism amongst delegates.
"There is a real sense of excitement about what will be achieved if Labour gets a fourth term in government. People are
looking to Labour to strengthen collective bargaining across whole industries, raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour,
and make it affordable for low-paid workers to buy their own houses."
Barbara said delegates feared that if National got in at the 2008 election, it would turn back the gains of the last
eight years by attacking unions and cutting public services like health and education.
"The attitude to National allowing workers to sell their extra week's holiday 'by agreement' was 'Yeah right!'," she
said.
The issues delegates said were most likely to affect the way they would vote in the next election were job security, and
health and education policies.
ENDS