Christmas bonus for Progressive workers

Christmas will be a little easier for workers at Progressive Enterprises when they get a $100 Christmas bonus from their unions next week.

The workers were locked out for nearly a month this year in a dispute that galvanised the union movement and gained wide public sympathy for the workers. Donations to keep the workers going poured in from the union movement and the wider public and a massive $425,000 was raised.

EPMU Organiser Wayne Ruscoe says the bonus will be funded from the $72,000 in donations that came in after the dispute ended. “Donations kept coming in on the week of settlement and dripped in after that. A lot of it was from collections that were made on merchant ships on long stints away at sea - just last week for example the Maritime Union gave another $3000.

He says the public support was phenomenal. “This was a dispute where every union could see what was at stake, and they dug deep to make sure the workers had the funds they needed to stand up and fight for a fair deal.”

Christchurch site delegate Darren Johnson says the $100 bonus will help workers still suffering financially from the lockout. “For a lot of people it’s been a real struggle just getting their finances back in order. The public support helped, but a lot of workers here still had to borrow money during the lockout just to pay the bills.

“After all we’ve been through, a hundred bucks is a lot of money, and for families at Christmas time it’ll make all the difference.”

The Progressive deal provided for pay parity over three years and pay rises of between 4 and 19.7%.