Second Plastics round concludes

The second round of negotiations for the Plastics MECA concluded this week and delegates met around the country on Monday to discuss the membership response.

The Plastics is the EPMU’s second largest Multi Employer Collective Agreement and the current negotiations involve 13 original party employers.

EPMU national plastics organiser Rachel Mackintosh says once members are aware of the content of the employers’ recent offer there will be report-back meetings around the country. “It’s likely we’ll be having mass-member meetings in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland on the 5th, 6th and 10th  of September and we’ll be looking to provide information about bargaining trends in the rest of the manufacturing industry then.”

“One of the themes we’ve heard a lot of from Plastics employers lately is costs,” says Mackintosh, “and while their cost constraints obviously need to be taken into account we’re more interested in bargaining that reflects a long-term commitment to a high-skill, high-wage future for this industry. We don’t want to get into a cost-cutting war with the likes of China because that’s not a game employers or workers can win, or would even want to play.”

More information about report-back meetings will be available to Plastics members next week.