EPMU settles collective agreement at Pagemasters

The EPMU has settled a new collective agreement at Pagemasters, the contractor that took on NZ Herald publisher APN’s subediting work in September this year.

The contracting out was the subject of a major EPMU campaign that involved an on-stage protest by delegates at the Qantas Media Awards and gained considerable media attention over concerns the move would see a decline in quality.
 
EPMU senior national industrial officer Paul Tolich says getting a collective agreement in place at a contractor is a major achievement.

“Often when a company contracts out work it leads to deunionisation and a substantial reduction in pay and conditions, but at Pagemasters we’ve been able to keep a union presence and get a salarised collective in place in line with the industry standards.

“The negotiations were conducted in a good spirit with Pagemasters management both in Australia in New Zealand, and we’ve achieved a very satisfactory agreement including decent pay rises over three years, an employer contribution to Kiwisaver and redundancy protections.

“It’s been a long campaign for the union with a lot of great work from the delegates, but I think this is a result everyone can be happy with.”

The collective agreement at Pagemasters covers 25 EPMU members, who make up a majority of the company’s workforce. The terms of settlement were ratified unanimously.