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25th January 2010
If the Bankster economy is collapsing then it is just about time to think about how to protect the REAL ECONOMY, THE WORKERS.
See video of MRNEWSguerillamedia's interview with Living Wage Organiser Joe Carolan here.
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19th January 2010
“The NZ Herald poll this morning that found that 61% of New Zealanders support raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, underestimates the support we are getting from thousands of people every week at our campaign stalls and workplaces” said Living Wage campaign organizer Joe Carolan, today. “We’re aiming for a referendum on this issue, and if just a fraction of the 61% who support our demand sign our petition by May, we’re confident that we will win it by a landslide- 70 or 80% would probably be closer the mark.....more.
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21st January 2010
Ana Pulini is Unite’s delegate at Auckland’s Copthorne Hotel. She has been busy letting people know about Unite’s campaign to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Not only has she signed up her workmates, her friends and family, she has been in the mall and on buses asking people to support the cause. Ana has found there is a lot of support out there. When she catches a bus she wanders along asking passengers if they want to sign the petition. People readily understand that the current minimum of $12.50 an hour is a poverty wage.....more.
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15th December 2009
Unite Union is asking its members and the public not to participate in interviews run by market research giant Colmar Brunton after the company announced the redundancy of around fifty union members and other call centre staff with no redundancy compensation just two weeks out from Christmas. “The company has decided to close its North Shore call centre and announced the decision just weeks before Christmas leaving our members facing the New Year without a job, income or any form of compensation,” said Unite Union National Director Mike Treen......more.
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9th December 2009
Unite Union members will picketed the Wellington call centre of Positive Airflow Limited for sacking a worker and union member without reason under the National Party’s 90 day probationary period law. Positive Airflow Ltd sells Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) units.....more.
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4th December 2009
If you work on any public holiday, you should be paid at least time and a half for the time you actually work and get another day off in lieu if you normally work on that day.
You are entitled to the greater of:
- relevant daily pay less any penal rates plus half that amount again (time-and-a-half)
- or relevant daily pay including any penal rates......find out more about your holiday entitlements.
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4th December 2009
Unite thinks that Don Brash needs a lesson on which way is up and which way is down. Brash has proposed to reduce New Zealand’s income gap with Australia by cutting the minimum wage to $10 an hour, re-introducing youth rates for workers under 18, and slashing public services and conditions that benefit the working poor.....more.
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1st December 2009
In the past year, union members in New Zealand have achieved pay increases above the rate of inflation while non-unionised workers have seen their pay drop in real terms according to new statistics. Employers usually pass on union negotiated increases to non-union workers - so these figures show that the more unionised a workplace is the better off all of its workers will be.....more.
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Unite has Signed On with Greenpeace’s campaign to get the government to take climate change seriously. This month world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to Sign On to a global agreement for action. For NZ to do our bit to help avoid catastrophic climate change, John Key needs to go to Copenhagen and and Sign On to reduce New Zealand's emissions by 40 per cent before 2020.....more.
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1st December 2009
The Campaign for a Living Wage had our best week so far last week, with a record 5,500 people signing the petition to raise the minimum wage throughout the country. A big team of Living Wagers were out in force at the Grey Lynn festival, where we gathered 3,300 signatures highly visible in the new yellow t shirts and red caps, and thousands more wore our stickers......more.
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1st December 2009
Restaurant Brands Limited Salaried Managers Bargaining team met with RBL management last month to discuss claims for a union agreement....more.
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6th November 2009
 Pictures and video from a march down Queen St in Auckland, New Zealand on 30th October 2009 to support Unite union's petition for a $15 an hour minimum wage. As it was close to Halloween the theme was "trick or treat" and marchers were dressed to kill (or to look as if they had already been killed)...more.
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SkyCity Cinemas have been sold to Australian entertainment group Amalgamated Holdings Ltd (AHL) for $59 million. This included 14 Skycity cinema complexes in New Zealand, including Wellington’s Embassy Theatre, plus joint venture interests in the Rialto Group and interests in Fiji....more.
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21st October 2009
Unite National Director Mike Treen has been examining what has really been happening to our wages. He found that official data on wage movements in New Zealand point to a real wage decline of around 25% between 1982 and the mid 90s that has never been recovered and that debt growth during those years has combined to make most us poorer.....more.
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18th October 2009
Unite has been compiling members' bad experiences working in a McJob. Recently we received this letter detailing experiences after just 6 weeks on the job at a McDonald's in the Wellington region.. "I had to give up my house as they weren't giving me enough hours, I was hired as full time and they cut me down to below 30 hours, they knew if they didn't increase them me and my 2 year old daughter would become homeless and they still did nothing, my hours did not increase until I contacted the union but this was after I had lost my house. I have been made to work several times while sick....more.
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10th October 2009
Unite members were out supporting locked out bus drivers in Auckland this week. 900 drivers have been locked out indefinitely and over 80,000 commuters have been affected by their employer's hard line. Even the New Zealand Herald editorial criticised the bosses (very unusual)....more.
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13th October 2009
While doing a street stall for the $15 campaign, Nigel Brookes, an ex-employee of an un-unionised call centre in Mt Albert approached the team to discuss his experiences. Unite represents hundreds of market research workers across 7 of the biggest companies. This year we signed collective agreements at six of these companies where members get regular pay rises, secure hours and representation to management....more.
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10th October 2009
It's a long time since we've updated on the language schools but we have been making excellent progress. Unite now has collective agreements with seven schools (Dominion, GEOS, Kaplan Aspect, EF International, Sheffield, Queens Academic, Crown Institute). Three of these schools (Dominion, GEOS and Kaplan Aspect) have bases in Auckland and Christchurch) and we are finalising agreements with Eurocentres and St George in the next two weeks.We have initiated bargaining with two more schools - Languages International and Embassy/Taylors here in Auckland....more.
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1st October 2009
The movement to get the minimum wage to $15 an hour is stepping up to a new level. Momentum has been building across New Zealand as union members, activists and supporters begin to get the petition outinto workplaces, universities and the community. To make sure we get 350,000 petition signatures by next May we need some heroes...more.
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8th October 2009
Health and Safety, pay rates and pizzas (for lunch) were the main topics discussed at the recent training session for security officer delegates. Everyone was enthusiastic about the opportunities for the union to work at significant improvement in pay and conditions for this sector. Security is freely acknowledged by the companies themselves to be low-paid with long hours of work to bring in enough income....more.
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28th September 2009
After beginning the campaign for free car-parking and better wages for mall workers at Syliva Park in July, union organisers have quickly fanned out across Auckland visiting Manukau Mall, St. Lukes, West-City and Lynfield malls as the Unite Mall Workers campaign spread across Auckland...more.
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27th September 2009
The Unite 2009 AGMs were held in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in mid-september.
The main Agenda items were:
- Presidents Report
- Secretary’s Report
- 2008-09 Financial Report
- Constitutional Amendments
- Executive election ....more.
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7th September 2009
On the 4th of September union delegates from some of Auckland’s biggest call centres met for a training day and for workshops on health & safety; bargaining, resolving employment problems, representing members in a disciplinary matter and building worker’s power through organising and campaigning....more.
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Unite Backs the Redundancy Protection Bill
6th September 2009
At a time of rising unemployment, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis and their families have no financial protection against redundancy....more.
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1st September 2009
Unite Union is calling for tougher regulation of temping agencies and greater protection for temporary employees after a call centre worker was sacked via text message for asking for a couple of days extra time off to attend to duties at a close relatives tangi. A young female call centre employee engaged by the Kelly Services temporary employment agency to work in the south Auckland call centre of Sky Television was told not to return to work ...more.
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1st September 2009
Unite Organiser John Minto is calling on the government to put a cap on how much people can be paid. He’s horrified by the multi-million dollar packages being enjoyed by the bosses of companies like Telecom and Air New Zealand. As far as he is concerned, there is no way they can be justified, especially at a time when profits are down and workers are losing their jobs.....
Frontline blog
3 News video
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26th August 2009
Up until recently some workers at Hoyts cinemas have been employed on the minimum 3 hour shift there and not been getting a paid break. Christchurch Unite organiser Joe Davies pointed out to Hoyts that they were in breach of the law (as of April 1st 2009), and they have now modified their breaks practice. Now any employee working the three hour shift will get a 15 minute paid break. .....more..
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24th August 2009
Unite members have been out this morning supporting the EPMU engineers fighting Telecom for their jobs. Telecom contractor Visionstream are trying to force up to 900 workers into becoming contractors - having to buy their tools, being completely dependent on Visionstream and yet with no guaruntee of ongoing work.....more..
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20th August 2009
Ever wondered why so many people have to carry two cellphones to be able to text and talk to all their mates? Unite has got in behind a campaign to stop Telecom and Vodafone’s rip-off charges. The campaign is called “Drop the Rate, Mate!” and it’s in support of a Commerce Commission draft recommendation demanding the Government step in to stop the Telecom and Vodafone MTR rip off urgently ....more.
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20th August 2009
Little on offer from security bosses: First
Security
Prison
Escort
and
Court
Security
Guards
(PECS)
– Negotiations
are
well
under way
with
the
guards
meeting
and
rejecting
the
company
offer.
Guards
are
now
considering
their
options....
download the latest newsletter here (283KB PDF file)
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