CTU president Ross Wilson speech to open CTU conference

CTU Media Release
15 October 2007

Ross Wilson, President, NZ Council of Trade Unions

CTU Biennial Conference Opening
9.15 am, Monday October 15 2007.
Wellington

Haere mai Haere mai haere mai. Welcome to the 2007 Conference of the CTU Te Kauae Kaimahi.

We have a really packed programme for the next three days and I’m delighted by the large number of delegates here to enjoy it.

Many of you have come a long way, but none further than Guy Ryder the General Secretary of our International Trade Union Confederation, representing more than 167 million union members in 153 countries.

Guy we are deeply honoured  that you have travelled from Brussels to join us, and to remind us of the very important role of unions in a globalised world.

The theme of the conference focuses on the fundamental issues we are grappling with as a workers’ movement, and as a country.

The first is democracy. I have often over the past eight years publicly asserted our union role as  institutions of democratic society.

I have frequently pointed out that the CTU -Te Kauae Kaimahi is the largest democratic organisation in Aotearoa New Zealand ------- and that we are steadily growing.

And yes I know some people smile tolerantly when I say it yet again.

But it needs to be said again and again because few New Zealanders saw the political and industrial attack on unions in the 1990s as the attack on democracy that it was.
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If we are not recognized as the legitimate voice for workers –Te Kauae Kaimahi – then there is unlikely to be an effective voice for them.

I read  Nicky Hager’s book “The Hollow Men” with a completely absorbing fascination, but with a genuine alarm as a New Zealander.

This astounding product of Don Brash’s email  obsession raises important constitutional issues. It should be a worry for us all that  this has not really been acknowledged in public debate. As you know we have ourselves sponsored public fora to try and achieve that.

It is no exaggeration to say that “The Hollow Men” raises the prospect of “government by the corporates for the corporates”.

What we want, and what our constitution is supposed to deliver is  “government by the people for the people”.

And it brings to mind again the warning by George Soros to the World Forum on Democracy in 2000:

“Perhaps the greatest threat to freedom and democracy in the world today comes from the formation of unholy alliances between government and business. 

And that is why the CTU, in our submission to the Select Committee on the Election Financing Bill signalled our support, not only for restrictions on, and greater transparency of political funding donations, - but also for State funding of election campaigns as many other countries do.

Why do we leave this very important part of our democratic process dependent on private fundraising and donations, when there is clearly such an obvious risk of undue influence and corruption of the political process?

Influence should come from popular support and collective representation, not from the size of political donations. 

And it is totally consistent with that approach that our credibility and influence comes from being the representatives of organised labour; the more than 300,000 union members represented here today.

We have worked very hard to ensure that that credibility and influence extends across the whole range of economic and social development.

We have actively advocated for sustainable development. And by that we mean not only environmentally sustainable but socially sustainable as well.

Worker and union participation in the development and implementation of the economic and social development strategies, which will directly affect all New Zealanders, and our children and grandchildren, is essential.

It is essential both because it is our democratic right, and because the experience of other successful small countries has demonstrated that such participation is a core ingredient of success.

So, over the past few years, in a number of different task forces, working groups and processes Business NZ and the CTU, as social partners, have been learning to work together in a way which respects each others roles and benefits us all.

Globalisation provides new opportunities as well as big challenges and threats.

New Zealand should be a country where everyone participates in the process of developing our national strategies, and shares fairly in the benefits. We need to be socially cohesive as well as economically strong.

o That is why we acknowledge the important role of the State and advocate for an increasing investment in public services, education, training, and skills development

o That is why the CTU has been actively engaged with Government and business in developing industry strategies to increase the value of the products and services we produce as a country

o That is why the CTU actively participated in the 2005 Hui Taumata on Maori economic development and has several current projects lead by our Vice President Maori Sharon Clair and our Runanga on skills and workforce development.

o And that is why we have been campaigning as a union movement to lift wages in this country before we lose more skilled workers to higher salaries in Australia and elsewhere.

A legacy of the 1990s is that there are more skilled Kiwis working in other countries as a % of our total workforce than any other country in the OECD.

And if we thought it was going to be easy to build a fair society when the Labour Alliance Government took power in 1999 we were soon disabused of that illusion.

Chris Trotter in his recent book “No Left Turn” refers to the mistake that Lee and other left-wing social democrats made in 1935.

He says the mistake was supposing that (as expressed by the British political scientist Ralph Milliband in The State and Capitalist Society):

“ the assumption of governmental power is equivalent to the acquisition of state power”.

We all saw the challenge to governmental power with the strike of capital in 2000 over the re-nationalisation of ACC and the Employment Relations Act.

We also saw business time and time again predict doom for the economy; whether it was ACC renationalisation, the ERA, the health and safety legislation, or the Holidays Act.

And we know the reality –---------sustained economic growth and the lowest unemployment  for 30 years.

Can I acknowledge the strength of the Prime Minister in the face of those attacks. She has stood firm with us on the fundamental issues.

So rebuilding a social democratic programme has been a struggle for all of us.

We know that the extremists are still at work (Don Brash’s emails are evidence of that), and that there remains a high level of employer hostility to unions ------------- partlcularly in the private sector.

And we know that we have to be ready to fight at any time.

We saw that last year with the all-out attack by the largest corporate in Australasia, Woolworths Australia.

We quickly realised that the Progressive lockout of 600 NDU and EPMU members wasn’t just an attack on the workers and their union.

It was intended as a challenge to, and a test for, the whole union movement.

And it was being watched closely by business and politicians as a litmus test of the strength of our movement.

It is now a proud chapter in our history that you all rose to the call for solidarity and mobilised overwhelming public and financial support.

We beat that corporate bully with a demonstration of union solidarity and campaigning activity which we can all feel very proud of.

Far from being starved into submission those NDU & EPMU members achieved a fair settlement, and returned to work under their union banners with their heads held high.

We saw the same solidarity and result from the SFWU dispute with another big Australian corporate, Spotless Services, only a couple of months ago.

And we have seen many other unions lead successful bargaining campaigns in both the public and private sectors ------- including the internationally groundbreaking UNITE youth led SuperSizeMyPay campaign for McDonalds and other fast food workers.

We should celebrate that union power at this conference. We are always going to need it.

And we should also celebrate the other gains which we have made for workers through political power ---- improvements in annual holidays, minimum wages, paid parental leave, health and safety and many others.

But we also know that we have a long way to go.

A long way to our vision of a modern workplace where participation in decent work is a vital part of our democracy and an essential aspect of sustainable development.

The reality is that the working lives of many workers are still characterised by low pay and a sense of being undervalued in workplaces that remain hierarchical and dysfunctional.

 We have made good progress but there is still a long hard road ahead.
We know that New Zealanders don’t want to go back to the “more market” days of the 1980s and 1990s when the disparity between rich and poor grew faster than in any OECD country.
They support the more “hands on” approach of building a national strategy for a high skill, high value, high wage economy.
But looking ahead over the next few years, what can we expect?

Frankly it is not at all clear.

It is said that “we” want fresh political faces on our TVs. And the National Party has a fresh faced new leader with a policy of agreeing, or appearing to agree, with many of the key Labour policies which have defined the political divide.

I say “appearing to agree” deliberately because it has always been our policy at the CTU to encourage union members to look past the rhetoric and reassurances, and examine the detail of the policies.

And if you look at the National Party policy on industrial relations and other  key work related issues like ACC, nothing much has changed:

o The policy is to weaken the ERA and, in particular to again remove the  key role of unions in collective bargaining.

o The commitment to the Mapp Bill policy of removing all legal rights during the first 3 months of a new job will remain, which means stripping more than 700,000 New Zealanders every year of their legal rights against unfair dismissal.

o The National Party has made very strong statements about cutting public expenditure and we have seen from the past that that means cuts for public services, education and health including increased GP fees..

o There is talk of privatization – of SOEs and ACC.

o And very importantly it is still not clear that the National Party respects the role of unions as social partners in modern democratic society.

So in the interests of providing a fresh face for voters are we contemplating a return to the 1990s if a National led Government is elected next year?

It is not for the CTU to tell people how to exercise their vote but we have always taken a responsibility to sharpen focus on the issues, and we are already preparing for such a campaign next year.

It is for you, and your members, to take stock of what has been achieved over the past eight years and whether all that is at risk with a change of Government.

The feedback I am getting is that union members do understand what is at stake.

They do understand that  there are fundamental differences in policy and values between a centre left government and a centre right government in New Zealand politics.

But we have to encourage democratic debate on the real issues in the broader public constituency.

Over and above our daily struggles we have a national interest to consider; the national interest of developing effective policies and strategies to provide decent work and incomes for working New Zealanders, and for our children and grandchildren.

We have the organisational power to influence.

As our wonderful Maori name makes clear, we are the political voice for workers. That is a huge responsibility and a process in which you all can (and do) play a crucial role.

Those of you with longer memories will remember the “Decent Society” slogan which National campaigned on in 1990.

We musn’t  be conned again.

This conference provides us with the opportunity to review our work and strategies, and to launch our political strategy and vision for the workplace of the future.

As I prepare to step down tomorrow as your President I feel  confident that I leave a union movement united around common strategies and aspirations – a movement which will be very well led into that challenging future by a dynamic new generation of CTU leadership.

I am also confident that our strategies and aspirations can be achieved with the assistance of government, and that the Prime Minister of New Zealand in 2009 will be the person I am about to introduce - the Rt Hon Helen Clark!

Kia kaha.