Media releases

Union says furniture manufacturer's receivership a real blow to workers and the country

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1300

The announcement that Auckland-based furniture maker Criterion Manufacturing Limited has gone into receivership is a blow for workers at the company as well as country, says the EPMU, the union representing manufacturing workers.

About 40 unionised workers at Criterion's East Tamaki factory were told on Tuesday afternoon the company was shutting its doors and Australian receivers, KordaMentha, were being brought in. Criterion is the largest office furniture manufacturer in Australasia with over 100 staff employed by the company and its subsidiary operations.

"This is a very difficult situation for these workers, many of whom are long serving. They are now suddenly without an income and have no idea if they'll get their outstanding wages and holiday pay," says Louisa Jones, EPMU National Industry Organiser. "It's also another body blow for our economy when a well established exporting company like Criterion shuts its doors ."

The EPMU says it will be working with the company's Receivers to ensure that workers get their full legal entitlements in terms of wages and holiday pay but there is no redundancy agreement in place at the company. "Management had always said that the business was growing and that there'd never be the need for a redundancy agreement .There is obviously a lesson here for other workers," says Ms Jones.

The EPMU is also working with government agencies such as WINZ to ensure Criterion workers get the necessary financial support they need as a result of their company's collapse.

Union disappointed that more Christchurch jobs are heading north

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1300

The union representing postal and logistics members, the EPMU, is disappointed that Christchurch is losing 40 jobs at a time when the region's economy is struggling.

The 40 warehouse jobs at Contract Logistics, a division of Express Couriers Limited (ECL), are moving north after the company lost a Postie Plus warehousing and distribution contract to an Auckland-based firm. Contract Logistics had held the contract for the last five years and was running a dedicated warehouse operation in Christchurch for Postie Plus.

"We know how hard it is for Christchurch people currently and the news that they are to lose 40 jobs is a real blow," says Anna Kenny, EPMU National Postal and Logistics Organiser. "I would have thought that Postie Plus would have shown more commitment to maintaining its connection with Christchurch at this time."

Contract Logistics has said it will attempt to redeploy as many of the warehouse staff as possible, but expects that there will be some redundancies. EPMU members have negotiated a collective agreement with Contract Logistics providing redundancy entitlements.

"The EPMU will be working closely with our affected members and the company to get the best outcomes for members given the circumstances," says Anna Kenny.

Former Pike CEO's role as safety consultant insensitive

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1300

Former Pike River CEO Peter Whittall's role as a mine safety consultant is insensitive to the families of the Pike 29 and a slap in the face to the mining community, says the Union that represents miners.

Despite facing multiple charges relating to the Pike River mine disaster, Peter Whittall has set up a business to advise the minerals industry on management, technical and safety matters.

"Miners are very practical and safety conscious people. They will want to know the outcome of Pike River inquiry, what happened in the mine and who was responsible for what happened. We would have expected someone with a history in mining to understand and respect that," says EPMU assistant national secretary, Ged O'Connell.

"The EPMU has deep concerns over what happened at Pike River and for the future direction of mine safety across our mining industry. It's inappropriate and a slap in the face for the mining community to have Peter Whittall advising mine management on safety while the Department of Labour case against him is still pending," says Mr O'Connell.

Union confident about health and safety systems at Huntly coalmine

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1300

The union representing miners at Solid Energy's Huntly East operation, the EPMU, is confident there are good systems in place for health and safety management at the underground coalmine.

Solid Energy is holding a public meeting in Huntly this afternoon to outline what is happening at the mine in response to concerns about possible health and safety breaches involving gas levels. An EPMU official and union members will also be attending the meeting.

"We're not aware of any complaints of the order of a Pike River-like health and safety situation at Huntly East," says Ged O'Connell, EPMU assistant national secretary. "We are aware of a recent event that has led to an investigation by Solid Energy and the Department of Labour."

The EPMU is strongly advocating for better mine safety and stronger regulation in the wake of the 2010 Pike River coalmine disaster in which 29 miners were killed.

"We are confident that Solid Energy is not a Pike operation and there's a much higher level of accountability and responsibility because it is a state owned enterprise," says O'Connell. "There's also a large amount of across-the-board experience and knowledge of underground coal mining at Huntly, unlike Pike River where there was very little. However, one pressure point that's developing is the loss of experienced miners to Australia who are attracted by better pay and conditions."

O'Connell says the EPMU is recognised by Solid Energy as playing an integral role in mine safety at Huntly and has strong network of union health and safety representatives, delegates and officials working with the company to constantly monitor and improve health and safety systems.

"However, while we have a good level of engagement with Solid Energy we are still advocating at the national level for a world's best practice approach to underground mining safety where we'd have the three-legged stool of excellent regulations, a highly competent and effective government inspectorate and worker-elected mine check inspectors," says O'Connell.

Genesis call centre workers hanging up Monday

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1300

Workers at Genesis Energy's Hamilton call centre take industrial action on Monday (14 November) over their employer's push for individualised performance based pay.

The Genesis workers' union, the EPMU, says its 80 members are reluctant to take action because of their commitment to customers. However, their action reflects a huge amount of anger and frustration that the company is not budging on wanting all staff on individualised performance based pay.

EPMU national industry organiser, Joe Gallagher, says the company's position is not about wanting to pay staff more. "It's about wanting to put a lid on pay increases - and creating the perception you can earn more with good performance. This is rubbish."

He says Genesis Energy's claim for an individualised performance based pay system undermines the foundation principles of collective bargaining under the Employment Relations Act (ERA 2000).

"Genesis call centre workers are not highly paid workers - with a median rate of around $18 an hour. There is also close to a 30% staff turnover figure. They have joined the EPMU because they want to bargain collectively with their employer to get a fair deal on wages and conditions," says Gallagher. "The ERA is about addressing the inequality of bargaining power that exists between employers and employees - but Genesis is keen to make sure their workers can't get a fair deal on wages."

The EPMU is also questioning Genesis Energy's motives for wanting a performance based pay system and believe there is a linkage with the prospect of the company being privatised after the election.

"You'd have to say that the company's bargaining strategy would have a snug fit with preparations for privatisation," says Gallagher. "Genesis would be able to boast to potential buyers they have a mechanism to screw down wages and control the workforce so that more money can be returned to private shareholders."

Genesis Energy is a state-owned enterprise (SOE) that is involved with the generation and retailing of electricity and natural gas. It supplies nearly 20% of the country's power needs. The company reports that it has over 650,000 customers across the country.

Good week for miners

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1200

EPMU welcomes announcements made this week that will have a significant impact on health and safety in the mining industry.

Ged O'Connell, Assistant National Secretary of the EMPU said today "it's been a good week for miners, on the heels of the Government's announcement of a revived mines health and safety inspectorate, we are pleased to hear the Labour Party policy released today of a comprehensive health and safety agenda that would re-introduce employee elected health and safety inspectors."

"The check inspectors, reinforced with a strong regulatory framework based on the mining regulations in Queensland, will create much a safer work environment for our miners," said Ged O'Connell.

High hazards unit a good start, but more work needed

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1200

The union representing most underground coal miners and oil and gas industry workers has welcomed the government's high hazards unit as a good start but says more will need to be done for New Zealand to reach world's best practice standard.

The government today announced the establishment of a high hazards unit made up of a chief inspector and three inspectors for each of the mining and oil & gas sectors as well as an overall chief. The unit is to be funded at a cost of $1.5 million from a levy the government already collects and which has been under spent by a considerable amount for some years.

The announcement follows damning evidence about the Department of Labour's capacity to deal with mining incidents at recent hearings of the Royal Commission on Pike River and a report that there is only one inspector covering the country's oil & gas exploration and production industry which operates in Taranaki, Northland, the East Coast and the Great South Basin.

"It's good to see the government taking action now, even though it was quite resistant to doing anything even recently, but more still needs to be done," EPMU assistant national secretary Ged O'Connell said.

"There is no question that after the Department of Labour's performance was exposed at the recent Pike River hearings we lost complete confidence in it to do the job of mines safety properly."

"They don't have the staff and the staff they did have, including the one mines inspector in place now. clearly haven't been supported to do the job."

"There was evidence that efforts to travel to mine incidents, such as ignitions underground - the most dangerous sort of incident in an underground mine, went unattended because a regional manager was afraid they had overspent that month's travel budget."

"We still need to be sure that this unit will be resourced to do the job properly - I don't know how far $1.5 million goes, but surely one thing we've learned from Pike River is that we should never scrimp on workplace health and safety."

"And a good inspectorate is only part of the deal. There is the need for decent regulation and reinstatement of the check inspector role to provide the full check and balance required."

"The government might want to do something truly radical and actually talk to the representatives of miners and oil & gas workers and find out what they want. As it is, we only heard about today's announcement through the media," Mr O'Connell said.

For more information, contact Ged O'Connell, Assistant National Secretary, 0275 328152 or Andrew Little, Special Counsel, 0275 513476.

NZ steel workers walk off job

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1200

More than 850 steel workers employed by NZ Steel at their sites in Glenbrook, Waikato North Head and Taharoa have called a 24-hour strike and walked off the job after a breakdown in collective agreement talks.

The EPMU as the union representing the steel workers has confirmed that the sticking point with the employer has been rates of payment and conditions relating to the use of contractors on site.

‘The issue is an obvious one,' says EPMU senior organiser Stuart Hurst. ‘If steel workers employed on site do not get a say on how contractors are used and paid, then the workers will find their own pay and conditions undermined.'

Hurst says that for members to take this action is a serious step.

‘NZ Steel is one of the most efficient and productive steel mills in the BlueScope stable,' says Hurst. ‘The site has enjoyed industrial stability for 20 years, and there have been no problems or difficulties during maintenance shuts or other times when contractors are needed.'

Two years ago NZ Steel initiated court action attacking a contractors' rights clause in the collective agreement and the case is still unresolved.
‘The issue around use of contractors on site has been an obsession of management for some time,' states Hurst. ‘They've thrown everything at the workers to try and get their way on this.'

‘We're hoping that the employer will see sense,' says Hurst. ‘In this day and age, trying to drive down wages and conditions is frankly counter-productive. It's not good for the steel workers, and it's not good for the contractors either.'

For more information contact Stuart Hurst, Senior Organiser, EPMU Auckland 0275 949 836

Blue Star decision 'too close for comfort'

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1200

The decision by Blue Star bondholders to accept a proposed refinancing deal by majority owner Champ Private Equity has been ‘too close for comfort' for Blue Star workers, says the country's largest private sector union.

Bondholders have voted to accept a restructuring plan that has meant them taking a significant loss on their $105 million investment, while Australian investor Champ adds $15 million in working capital on preferential terms.

Champ's threat to put the company into the hands of receivers had also put workers' jobs and redundancy payments at risk.

‘Champ's attitude has been outrageous,' says EPMU national industry organiser Louisa Jones. ‘Their take-it-or-leave-it approach to bondholders has also shown a complete disregard for workers' livelihoods.'

‘This kind of brinkmanship is not what we expect from responsible business owners in New Zealand. Is this really how we want our businesses to operate?'

Blue Star is a trans-Tasman communications group including sheetfed, digital and web printing, print management, direct mail and national logistics operations. The group operates eight printing and packaging plants in New Zealand, and 266 of its employees are covered by the EPMU.

For more information, contact Louisa Jones, National Industry Organiser Print and Media, EPMU Auckland - 027 590 0071.

Fatal accident at SafeAir in Blenheim

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1200

An engineer has been killed this morning at an accident at SafeAir in Blenheim. SafeAir is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air New Zealand.

The union is able to confirm that the deceased man was a member of the EPMU. No other details will be available from the union until the man has been named.

The union expresses its condolences to the member's family and colleagues. Union officials are working to support members and management at SafeAir at this difficult time.

The union will be supporting occupational health and safety, police and other investigators into the tragic accident.

For further information contact
EPMU National Secretary Bill Newson 027 5384 246
EPMU Organiser George Hollinsworth 027 6751 338