News

New Plastics Industry Agreement in the Pipeline

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +1300

EPMU members working in the plastics companies are currently voting on a settlement for the renewal of their industry agreement.

Over the two year term of the proposed agreement wages would grow by nearly 7.2%. The settlement also includes provisions to stop employers implementing the 90-day ‘fire at will' provisions, maintenance of union access and a requirement that employers not automatically pass on the deal to non-union employees.

Darrin Norris, a delegate on the EPMU negotiating team, is pretty happy with the settlement. "It was hard going but we convinced the employers that they needed to put up a fair increase this year. Our members are relieved to see good wage growth to ease the pressures at home they're facing from rising costs." His company, Palmerston North-based Iplex Pipelines, is an original party in the Plastics Industry Agreement.

EPMU members from the six companies who make up the original parties in the industry agreement will know by the end of this week if the new settlement has been ratified.

If the settlement is ratified the EPMU will launch a subsequent party campaign to bring other companies into the agreement, negotiating site variations where necessary. The term of the proposed new agreement runs through to September 2013.

Standing room only at combined membership meetings

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1200

Hundreds of EPMU members, mainly from the plastics and metal manufacturing industries, gathered at offsite meetings last week in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, leaving standing room only.

‘I know it takes a lot to leave the workplace during work hours and travel across town for a union meeting,' says EPMU national secretary Bill Newson. ‘Our members have shown they are up for it. My thanks to all of you who played your part in making this happen.'

The combined membership meetings mark the launch of the renegotiation of the plastics industry multi-employer collective agreement (MECA). Advocacy for the agreement will be led by EPMU organisers Andrew Skelly and Kelvin Ellis, supported by a team of four delegates from around the country.

‘Coordination is the key to multi-employer bargaining,' states EPMU director of organising Rachel Mackintosh. ‘I'm asking all our members to give our team your full cooperation.'

Mass member meetings kick off union bargaining round

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1200

Mass member meetings planned for Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch next week will bring workers together across the manufacturing and plastics industries, says EPMU director of organising Rachel Mackintosh.

‘There's an EPMU tradition of getting workers together across industries prior to a bargaining round,' says Mackintosh. ‘This is the first time we're bringing members from general manufacturing and plastics manufacturing together in these meetings.'

Mackintosh says that a big focus at the meetings will be the union's role in leading wage growth.

‘Our members will have the opportunity to discuss how every member and every worksite can contribute,' says Mackintosh. ‘We know from experience that when we use our collective strength across industries we lift workers' wages and conditions.'

The union will be launching the plastics industry agreement campaign at the meetings, as well as discussing demands for improved wages and conditions across manufacturing and plastics.

‘Workers in manufacturing and plastics include some of the lowest paid workers covered by our union,' says Mackintosh. ‘They are the ones hurting most from the rising cost of living.'

The meetings will be held during work time under Section 26 of the Employment Relations Act. Under the act workers can attend these meetings with no loss of pay.

Meetings will be held in Wellington on Tuesday 2 August, Christchurch on Wednesday 3 August, and Auckland on Thursday 4 August.

Plastics nears sign-off

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +1300

Late last year plastics industry workers decided to try something new in an effort to settle the industry agreement.

Bargaining with a group of core employers in the industry had dragged on for nearly six months with no settlement. It seemed the employers had no interest in continuing the industry agreement. So, in early 2010, the union did something new - we began approaching employers one by one to settle the agreement bit by bit. Companies have already begun to sign in.

In the meantime, faced with a year of being bogged down in site-by-site bargaining, the employers have now responded -finally - by making a big effort to come up with an acceptable offer for an industry deal.

EPMU national plastics organiser Rachel Mackintosh says progress is good. "We are now hopeful that there will be a broad settlement that the whole industry can get behind and we expect to be able to report more next week once Delegates have met and discussed the situation."

"We're pleased to see things getting on track," says Mackintosh, "as the Plastics MECA is one of the union's significant documents and provides real long-term gains for plastics workers. Like the Metals MECA, it sets standards that flow on to other bargaining. When the Plastics and Metals are strong, all workers benefit."

If you're a member on a plastics site and want to join to the MECA you can contact us on 0800 1 UNION or us@epmu.org.nz to find out how.

Plastics mediation follows third week of action

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1300

The seven employers involved in negotiations for the Plastics MECA agreed to mediation last week following three weeks of industrial action.

Tensions have been high since workers started industrial action in response to employers' attempts to freeze their pay, with one company attempting to push workers into leaving the MECA and suspending a delegate over the action.

EPMU national plastics organiser Rachel Mackintosh says the mediation is scheduled for one day later this month.

"We would have liked to get everyone in the room sooner than this but with seven employers involved we've had to wait a coupe of weeks for a date when everyone who can make a meaningful decision is available."

"One thing this dispute has really shown is massive solidarity between workers," says Mackintosh, "with members at different sites supporting each other regardless of some of the employers' attempts to divide them."

"We were told before the action started that there would be no further offer so just getting a mediation represents significant movement which would not have come without the strength and unity of our members in this action."

A union survey of plastics workers before the negotiations showed that forty five percent are spending more than half their income just to pay for rent or mortgages.

Plastics workers fight wage freeze

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Three hundred plastics industry workers have started nationwide industrial action including go slows and overtime bans after their employers attempted to impose a wage freeze.

The workers are negotiating the Plastics Multi Employer Collective Agreement and the industrial action is taking place at Viscount, VIP, Premier, Iplex, Alto and Calvert Plastics.

EPMU national plastics industry organiser Rachel Mackintosh says it is unsurprising that members have decided to take industrial action.

"These are not well paid workers, in fact a recent union survey of the industry showed that forty five percent of them spend half of their income or more on rent or mortgages; they simply can't afford to have their employers freeze their pay.

"Taking industrial action isn't an easy choice for workers on or near the minimum wage because it costs money and money is already tight, but the proposed wage freeze would mean a pay cut after the cost of living is taken into account and that's a prospect our members are not willing to wear.

"This is an industry with long-term investment including public money and many of the companies involved in this dispute are now having to employ temporary labour and offer overtime to meet demand.

"If our members don't see some genuine movement from the employer parties this dispute could spread to other plastics firms."

Plastics workers fight wage freeze

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Three hundred plastics industry workers have started nationwide industrial action including go slows and overtime bans today after their employers attempted to impose a wage freeze.

The workers are negotiating the Plastics Multi Employer Collective Agreement and the industrial action is taking place at Viscount, VIP, Premier, Iplex, Alto and Calvert Plastics.

EPMU national plastics industry organiser Rachel Mackintosh says it is unsurprising that members have decided to take industrial action.

"This is an industry with long-term investment including public money and many of the companies involved in this dispute are now having to employ temporary labour and offer overtime to meet demand.

"If our members don't see some genuine movement from the employer parties this dispute could spread to other plastics firms."

The EPMU represents 45,000 working New Zealanders including more than 3000 workers in the plastics industry.

ENDS

For more information please contact Rachel Mackintosh on 0275 437 943 or EPMU communications advisor Rob Egan on 027 276 5146.

Cryovac workers beat wage freeze decree

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

EPMU members at Cryovac Sealed Air in Porirua have beaten a company-imposed wage freeze, winning a 2% pay rise as a result of industrial action.

The industrial action involved 130 workers at the packaging company, and involved a work to rule order, an overtime ban and a refusal to provide cover for absent staff.

Members also won a daily supervisor's allowance and removed the cap on pay increases for workers who acquire new skills.

EPMU organiser Mark James says the pay increase shows the importance of workers standing together through their union.

"This is a large multi-national company that could easily afford to give its workers a fair and reasonable pay increase, and we're glad the company came to see this as well.

"The fact is there's no excuse for companies that are making a healthy profit to simply impose a wage freeze on their workforce. Our members at Cryovac have shown that if we stand together through our unions we can demand a better deal."

The union also managed to scale back planned cuts to rosters for workers who wanted to keep their hours.

"The company had proposed reducing the number of weeks on roster during the meat season to due to the declining number of lambs on farms," says James.

"This reduction in hours would have meant a 6.7% decrease in earnings for workers in the bag plant. The settlement reached gives workers the opportunity to mitigate that loss of work by picking up additional hours if they wish."

In 2008 Cryovac Sealed Air made a net profit of $5.9 million. In the first seven months of 2009 the company posted a net profit of $6 million.

Cryovac workers beat wage freeze decree

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union members at Cryovac Sealed Air in Porirua have beaten a company-imposed wage freeze, winning a 2% pay rise as a result of industrial action.

The industrial action involved 130 workers at the packaging company, and involved a work to rule order, an overtime ban and a refusal to provide cover for absent staff.

EPMU organiser Mark James says the pay increase shows the importance of workers standing together through their union.

"This is a large multi-national company that could easily afford to give its workers a fair and reasonable pay increase, and we're glad the company came to see this as well.

In 2008 Cryovac Sealed Air made a net profit of $5.9 million. In the first seven months of 2009 the company posted a net profit of $6 million.

ENDS

For more information please contact Mark James on 027 599 0113 or EPMU communications advisor Neale Jones on 027 276 7609.

Cryovac workers start industrial action over wage freeze demand

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +1300

EPMU members at Cryovac Sealed Air in Porirua have begun industrial action over the company's attempt to impose a wage freeze despite making a $6 million profit in the first seven months of this year.

The industrial action involves 130 workers at the packaging company, and is starting with a work to rule order, an overtime ban and a refusal to provide cover for absent staff.

EPMU organiser Mark James says Cryovac Sealed Air is making healthy profits and can afford to pay its workers fairly.

"We've spent three whole days trying to reason with the company but it's felt like we're banging our heads against a brick wall.

"Cryovac seem to have got this idea into their heads that even though they're making healthy profits they can use the recession as an excuse to demand a wage freeze.

"The fact is it's not getting any cheaper for our members to keep a roof over their heads or feed their families so any wage freeze will mean an effective cut in pay.

"This is a large multi-national company that can easily afford to give its workers a fair and reasonable pay increase. That's all our members are asking for."

In 2008 Cryovac Sealed Air made a net profit of $5.9 million. In the first seven months of 2009 the company posted a net profit of $6 million