Wage drive heads north

19 August, 2008

The Work Rights wage drive finished its South Island leg on the 9th of August with over 3000 members from nine towns attending and endorsing the EPMU's Work Rights Checklist.

The first of the North Island Rallies was held in Wellington last week with fifteen hundred people turning up in support of stronger work rights and higher wages and the drive continued through Masterton, Hawkes Bay, Palmerston North, Wanganui as well as Hawera, New Plymouth and Hamilton this week with another 2000 members turning out across all seven centres.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the response to the Wage Drive has been terrific. "Work rights and higher wages are a huge election issue this year and we've been pleased to see our members are standing up to protect their rights and make them stronger."

"This is about making every political party sit up and take notice," says Little, "and that means when we go to them with our demands we know we have the strength of fifty thousand members behind us."

Little says the Work Rights check list is crucial. "We've canvassed thousands of members over the last year in delegate forums, industry councils and at our national conference, put together a checklist of the Work Rights our members have told us they need and now we are taking the list to members around the country to endorse."

"We'll be taking this to each party and asking them to tell us where they stand on our members needs," he says, "and we'll be reporting their answers back to our members and to every working person in New Zealand."

More information about the Work Rights road show, including the checklist, is available at www.workrights.org.nz and photos from the rallies are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/epmu/