Ross Wilson to EPMU Conference 2002

Speech to biennial Engineering, Manufacturing and Printing Union.

It is my honour and pleasure to once again bring warm greetings to your Conference from the other unions within the CTU.

It is coming up to 3 years since I was elected as the President of the CTU, and two years since I spoke to your last Conference in Auckland.

It doesn't seem that long and I think we have quite a lot to celebrate after three action-packed years.

But can I just begin by acknowledging the EPMU leadership, and all of you, for your work in rebuilding our union movement, not just industrially, but politically as well.

Paul and I are supported by an outstanding group of CTU staff, but we cannot succeed as a union movement without the commitment, and active input from key unions like the EPMU.

All of you, in a significant way, contribute to our movement, and I think it is important that I acknowledge the important role which both individuals and the EPMU as a union play in CTU work.

Conference is a time to reflect o the past and plan for the future so lets start by celebrating some of our achievements.

We have been able to bring together the union movement into a single national trade union centre; not just the TUF unions but, with the return to the CTU of unions like the NDU, and the affiliation of other unions to the CTU for the first time, we have established a solid and broad based critical mass from which to continue to build our movement.

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Affiliates increasingly identify as part of, not apart from, the CTU.

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We identify together despite our diverse jobs as cleaners, university academics, nurses and doctors, port and railway workers, teachers, and our increasingly diverse cultures and backgrounds.

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And we are come together in the union movement to work together on common strategies.

Many of those strategies are bearing fruit.

The Organising Centre, under Carol Beaumont's leadership has been a huge success.

Union membership overall is growing for the first time in more than a decade. And there are almost 300,000 workers affiliated to the CTU, up from less than 200,000 just 3 years ago.

We are raising our profile again. The media is increasingly seeing the CTU as relevant, representative, and influential. Lyndy McIntyre does a great job as our media officer. She has just finished loading up our new website so have a look at www.union.org.nz./P.

And as you would have seen yesterday Peter is establishing himself as one of th best economic commentators in the country. With the added bonus that you can understand what he is talking about.

In fact we are tremendously lucky to have been able to attract such a bunch of able people to our staff.

So we're developing some credibility as an organization. And so we should because after all the CTU is the largest democratic organization in New Zealand ... and just to make sure employers, politicians, and the media don't forget it, I say that in nearly every speech, and every second media release.

Because that is a very important fact. Unions have an important role to play in a democracy. When union rights are threatened, as they were during the 90s, democracy itself is threatened.

And I should acknowledge the key role which the EPMU played in those difficult years in leading the rebuilding of union influence in the Labour Party. It is in no small part due to this union that the Party not only survived, but is in Government today, and with a strong union influence.

That sort of democratic activism is vital for us, and the people we represent. And because of it we can, with justifiable pride, tick off the achievements of your Government as our joint achievements:

- Scrapping the ECA and replacing it with the ERA has restored some fairness to our core business of collective bargaining. - And below that the improvements to the minimum code of employment rights are vital to the many workers who do not, yet, have collective bargaining strength, or even union membership. - The increases in the minimum wage and paid parental leave are a tremendous step forward in workplace equity. - The upgrading of the Holidays Act is in the pipeline and we can look forward to extra pay for working public holidays, improved sick, domestic and tangihanga/bereavement leave, and (perhaps) 4 weeks annual leave.. - We are also working on some "fine tuning" proposals for the ERA. We have had an ERA Monitoring Group tracking its implementation. We have quite a large number of issues. - Some arise from Court decisions. Like the Court of Appeal decision saying that "good faith" under the ERA is no different from the weak common law duties that existed under the ECA. Its clear that the CA, wedded as they are to the ECA era, is going to continue to try and read the ERA down and we need some very clear amendments to direct them back on track. - There are other issues which arise from continuing employer avoidance and undermining tactics. We pointed out at the Bill stage that changes were needed to protect against employer strategies aimed at undermining collective bargaining. That problem, and the free-loading problem that goes with have to be addressed. - We need more support for multi employer and industry bargaining. - The CTU is currently working on some solutions; which are a bit more difficult to identify than the problems. But we have an excellent Minister in Margaret Wilson, and I am confident we'll find practical, and politically feasible, amendments to what is a basically sound piece of legislation. - But we won't have truly left the ECA workplace behind until we have protections for vulnerable workers on contracting out, and family friendly workplace policies which ensure that there can be a reasonable balance between work and family life. It is great to see the Labour commitment to legislating the transfer/contracting protections as a matter of priority. - The CTU has worked hard to support the strengthening of the workplace health and safety laws. - With a work-related death toll higher than the road toll, and the OSH recorded workplace deaths this year the highest for a decade, I know you find it as disgusting as I do that some employer spokespeople can go before the Select Committee and say that "workplaces are safe enough". - They make no complaint that the Fisheries Act has maximum fines of $500,000 for injury to fisheries, or that the Commerce Act has maximum penalties of up to $5 million to for damage to commercial markets. But there is outrage with the proposal to increase fines the maximum fine to $500,000 for killing and injuring people at work. - Union surveys consistently show that safe and healthy workplaces are a top priority and it is our duty as unions to make sure that we do everything we can to deliver it.

And there have been other important political gains:

- Rebuilding ACC - Increased N Z superannuation levels - Reduced State housing rentals - Abolition of bulk funding in schools - New apprenticeship schemes - Easing the burden of student loans and many more.

So we're doing quite well as a union movement. When I go to international union meetings there is a lot of interest, and respect, for what we have achieved industrially and politically.

But are we doing as well as we could do .... or more correctly ..... have to do?

I think if we are honest with ourselves we have to acknowledge we are not.

Yes we have increased total union membership by 9% in two years and yes that is double the rate of growth of the total labour force for the same period. But that growth was during a period of solid economic growth, a supportive Government, unrestricted workplace access rights, and an active CTU organizing programme.

Union density, the unionized proportion of the total workforce, remains at 18%, or 22% of wage and salary earners.

So we are doing quite well, but not nearly good enough.,/p>

And we have to accept a "union movement" responsibility for this challenge, both at individual union and CTU level.

At the CTU level we shall be taking stock of many of our strategies after the election. And nothing is more important than growing our membership.

Increased membership means increased resources and increased strength and influence... at least potentially.

So we shall be asking all unions to look at their structures and strategies, and we at the CTU will also look again at what we are doing together as a union movement.

The world is changing rapidly and we have to constantly change and adapt.

How do we build a new unionism, which is attractive to our increasingly diverse workforce and society, whether they are young or old?

Have we been pursuing the right strategies and priorities over the past 2 years?

Why were the training seminars we held on organizing young workers so poorly attended by unions when this was identified as a top priority.

Have unions actually picked up the challenge in practice or, with the relative security of a friendly Government and employment laws, have some unions slipped back into business as usual?

Certainly when I look at union membership increases there are some sharp contrasts between one union and another and between one sector and another.,/p>

I don't think we have achieved that quantum shift of resources from maintenance of the status quo to building union membership.

And there are some obstacles. The ERA has not significantly reduced transaction costs, and we are, in many ways, still in transition from the ECA environment.

We need to have a frank reassessment. I think we will find that there is no magic bullet, and that if we are looking at increasing overall union density we must develop a fairly comprehensive union movement strategic plan.

We have talked about that sort of thing. In fact we are currently getting some work done by Auckland University to "map out" the New Zealand workforce.

From there we need to identify the target areas, and prepare an invasion plan...which we jointly commit to deliver.

We also need to take advantage of the opportunities which Government provides us.

One example is the opportunity which the system of elected health and safety representatives provides for us, to not only improve workplace safety, but do so by building strong workplace organization around an issue which union members consistently tell us is a top priority for them.

The EPMU has always done that work well and is probably the only union that kept health and safety training going throughout the decade of the ECA.

We also need to link that strong workplace organization with other programmes which we develop jointly with Government and employers to maximise upskilling and learning opportunities.

There is a potentially virtuous circle here. We need to increase union membership to increase our effectiveness and influence, but we also need to take the opportunities to be effective and influential on behalf of our members so that we can be seen to be doing and achieving the things that make workers think that union membership is worthwhile.

Your union has also consistently promoted an industry approach to economic development and bargaining. There are opportunities opening up if we can find the resources to capitalize on them. The Wood Industry Processing Group is a good example and Andrew has represented the union there.

Jim Anderton has done a good job as Minister of Economic Development and this industry model is about to take off. At least 11 other industry sectors have indicated an interest in working together in this way. And unions have to be on board.

These industry forums provide the opportunity to bring together all the industry players, with the potential to build industry strategies around industry development, skill development, health and safety, and bargaining.

It all links together and we need to draw resources from where we can to develop our capacity. For example, ACC has indicated a willingness to invest in training of health and safety reps, and this provides us with the opportunity to develop delegate capacity which can be extended into other industry initiatives.

And lets not be under any illusion. Those opportunities will only continue for unions under a Labour-led Government.

It is becoming increasingly clear that a National Government would pick up where it left off in the 1990s. Just in case anyone has fallen for Simon Power's claim, the ERA changes which they propose to make are not minor: the amendments to the ERA they are proposing would essentially convert it to an ECA in drag.

National don't look as though they are even in with a chance in this election but we must also plan for the longer term. We must eliminate every possibility of a return to the 1990s policies. They were disastrous for working people and they were disastrous for our economy.

I will just mention (again because I do it frequently) the compelling comparative study by Professor Paul Dalziell which demonstrates just how disastrous the 1990s policies were.

His study shows that although the NZ & Australian economies tracked along the same prior to 1984, they diverged markedly after that. If the New Zealand economy had grown at its previous trend rate, or matched Australia over the same period, output would have been a third higher at the end of the 1990s.

The amounts of personal and public income associated with this are staggering.

If New Zealand had continued to match Australia's growth the extra income would have generated, at the end of the last decade, an extra $11 billion of tax revenue per annum - enough to halve net government debt, or double spending on health and education.

Lets make sure that we leave that disastrous decade well behind us. The Labour Alliance Government has moved us along a much more productive policy path.

One of the keys to growth from our perspective is skill development; another area whether the EPMU signaled the way forward.

Put simply, workers need to be seen as an investment, not solely a cost.

The new Apprenticeship Scheme has been a huge success. It is tremendous news that 6,000 more young New Zealanders will have the chance to take up new apprenticeships under the Budget increase recently announced by the Prime Minister.

Last month we had the "Work in Progress" Conference on vocational education and training, jointly sponsored by Skill New Zealand, the CTU and Business NZ. We had almost 500 registrations. A training culture is emerging. It is likely that the "Skill New Zealand" brand will continue as the tripartite forum supporting and promoting skill development.

For the worker of today - job security is not just about the current job. It is about lifelong learning because current skills mean employability, job security and higher wages.

So how do we bring all of this together in a strategy for growth? How do we build faster economic growth in our country for the benefit of all New Zealanders?

We have heard a lot about innovation and the innovation framework.

We all know that there can't be a successful growth strategy without tapping into the rich resource of innovation and experience already there in our workforce.

It was no surprise that the labour productivity rate under the ECA was so low. The ECA was seen as oppressive and unfair by most workers; they were treated as commodities, and conservative and dull management was entrenched.

The ERA has the potential to create more democratic, satisfying and innovative work environments where the real potential and innovation of workers is unleashed.

That will require leadership from business and from unions, as well as the Government.

Whether the CTU can commit to a particular growth strategy depends whether we can develop constructive relationships, not only in the workplace, but also in the broader economic and social-policy making bodies and labour market institutions.

This is another vital area of challenge for unions and union members. Are we going to be part of the action with Government or are we going to be interested bystanders? Our aim is to be part of the action but we need the continuation of a Government which respects the role of unions as the representatives of organized labour.

And there is clear evidence why this is good economic sense as well as a legitimate recognition of the largest democratic organization in New Zealand. ,/p>

An ILO study published two years ago documented the remarkable economic and labour market recovery made by four small European countries; Austria, Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland.

That study showed that social partnership and the efforts of social partners and governments to arrive at new solutions played a critical role in their economic and labour market success.

If there is to be a social partnership approach we have to put it up there in black and white. What are we committing to and what are the expected mutual obligations and returns?

In countries like Ireland the partnership objectives and commitments are formalized into quite detailed national agreements which are then debated and ratified by workers in votes at workplace level.

But there is no "best model" and we have to develop our own. That is one of the challenges we face beyond the election.

And we have to move on from the good, but ad hoc, working relationship with Government to a relationship which is more formalized and consistent.

So to conclude; what are our best political party "prospects" for such a relationship with Government? There is only one real leader in New Zealand politics at the moment and we have had strong support from union members for a Labour led Government with Helen Clark as Prime Minister. The Clark Government has delivered on its promises to us, and we have a very good working relationship. Lets keep the programme rolling.

If there needs to be a coalition or support from other parties we should acknowledge the support, and the good working relationships we developed with the old Alliance in Government, and the Greens. If the Alliance had managed its factions better we would undoubtedly be campaigning for the return of a Labour Alliance Government. I'm not apportioning blame but there are consequences of that failure.

So while we continue to support, and work with, parties and MPs who support our policies, we are not able to endorse any particular configuration on the Centre Left as an agreed CTU position. You are aware that we have some concerns about the Greens position and I expressed those quite bluntly at their conference only a few weeks ago. Further dialogue will no doubt take place beyond the election.

The CTU's real concern is the apparent re-emergence of NZ First. Many of our union members put their trust in Winstone as a coalition partner for Labour in 1996, and were betrayed. As a consequence we got 3 more years of the ECA and the privatization of ACC.

I received an angry phone call from NZ First Deputy Leader Peter Brown the other day complaining bitterly about the line in our CTU leaflet which said that NZ First usually supports the sort of changes to the ERA and ACC that National & ACT are proposing. Well Peter, actions speak louder than words, and the record shows very clearly that NZ First voted in Parliament against the ERA, against the re-nationalisation of ACC, and against Paid Parental Leave.

So that is why, when we talk about support for a Labour led Government, we are not talking about Labour leading NZ First.

Our CTU objective is to deliver the parties to Parliament which will support our own policies and will work with us to help deliver, industrially and politically, the aspirations of the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders we represent. But that will still leave us, as unions, with the challenge of continuing to build our membership so we can build our influence to rebuild a prosperous and fair society. The EPMU will continue to have a crucial leadership role to play and I look forward to continuing the work we have begun during the past two and a half years.