Labour Day - A day for Unionism

Labour Day is a special day for New Zealand unionists. It’s the day we celebrate union members working together to win the eight hour day, a work right that our union forebears won for all Kiwi workers many decades ago.

But we mark more than just the eight hour day. We celebrate the positive role unions and their members have played in New Zealand for a century and a half. After all, it is union members down the ages who have fought to win every single work right all New Zealand workers enjoy today: rights like sick pay, four weeks annual leave, safer workplaces, the minimum wage. The list goes on.

As unionists we all know we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. But the reality is that every worker in New Zealand today, union and non-union, has much to be grateful for to previous generations.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union has contributed much to the legacy so many workers enjoy today. As the full name of the union suggests, we are an amalgamation of many unions over time. Within our ranks we have members who carry with them, and for all of us, a strong heritage in the building of our union movement. The miners who led the movement with their defining disputes nearly 100 years ago which established decent break times for them and changed the industrial relations system for all; the boilermakers on the Mangere Bridge who established the right to redundancy compensation when a job ended; the Kinleith pulp and paper mill workers in 1980 who took on Rob Muldoon and won back the right to have a say on setting their pay rates; the metal workers and trades men and women covered by the Metal Trades Award which for many years was the trendsetting award for the whole country.

These were all hard yards. All worthy struggles. And they stand alongside the many advances, big and small, we continue to make every day. We truly have much to celebrate.

The fact that we can still point to victories and wins even today tells us something else. The work of the union is never done. And it never will be.

In the last year alone we’ve seen thousands of Kiwi workers being locked out of supermarkets, factories, hospi¬tals and coal mines just for asking for their fair share. But by standing together they won. They won with or without laws on good faith and better laws on collective bargaining.

One thing is clear. Individual workers cannot defend themselves against these sorts of attacks. Only those who join with their workmates and act together have the power to defend their dignity, and to make progress.

There will always be employers who will test the dignity and fortitude of their workforce. And there will always be politicians who see gains to be made from attacking the rights of working people. Last year, National Party politicians wanted to introduce a law to remove basic work rights for all people in the first 90 days of any new job. Last week, the same party again attacked rights protecting us against unfair dismissal.

No one else but unions will speak for working people and their families, and fight to keep and build on our rights.

Labour Day is our day as unionists and as working New Zealanders. We should use it to remember that we’re stronger together, and that together there’s still more to be won.

In unity,

Andrew Little
National Secretary
EPMU