New E tu union seeks relevance in changing labour market

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)