Category: Unions

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Secondary teachers urge Government to keep Fair Pay Agreements

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Secondary teachers support today’s protest against the government’s plans to repeal Fair Pay Agreement legislation.

Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) bring employer associations and unions together to bargain for minimum employment terms for all covered employees in an industry or occupation, particularly the lowest paid such as cleaners, hospitality workers, security staff and bus drivers.

“Scrapping fair pay laws will is all about putting more money in employers’ pockets, and rewarding businesses for their vote.  It will take Aotearoa New Zealand back to a low wage economy and put us back in the race to the bottom.

“Those who benefit the most from Fair Pay Agreements are people who work in jobs with inadequate working conditions, low wages, and low labour productivity. For example, Māori, Pacific peoples, young people, and people with disabilities are over-represented in jobs where low pay, job security, health and safety, and upskilling are significant issues. Barriers to good labour market outcomes are particularly prevalent for people who fall within more than one of those groups. Fair Pay Agreements help address these issues.

“Doing away with fair pay agreements shows very clearly where this government sits – and it is definitely not with people who are most in need of decent pay and working conditions. The fact that repealing fair pay legislation is one of the first items on this government’s agenda speaks volumes about who it represents – and it is not those who are struggling or financially squeezed in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“We urge the Government to think again – and think of the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders in the lowest paid jobs seriously struggling to make ends meet – before it scraps fair pay and takes us back years.”

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Wellington rally to save Fair Pay Agreements! – E tū

Source: Etu Union

Kia ora koutou,

Join members from across different unions in Wellington this Wednesday to tell the National-led Governments not to cancel our Fair Pay Agreements

When: Wednesday 13 December, 1pm
Where: Parliament Steps

Fair Pay Agreements are our best chance in decades to really improve things for some of our most vulnerable workers. E tū members in cleaning and security have already initiated Fair Pay Agreements, along with bus drivers, supermarket workers, and ECE teachers.

However, the new Government wants to cancel our Fair Pay Agreements before the first ones are even completed. We need to stand together and tell them not to! Join us at Parliament to make sure your voice is heard.

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Te Pūkenga disestablishment reveals Government’s lack of plan

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The announced disestablishment of Te Pūkenga shows the Government has no plan for vocational education, says the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff said he was deeply concerned about the impact that another change process will have on the provision of vocational education to the workforce.

“The government’s approach to change is to terminate existing arrangements without producing a plan for what will replace it, leaving everyone in the lurch and without any certainty. The consequences of taking this approach at Te Pūkenga are enormous.”

The disestablishment of Te Pūkenga is going to mean several more years of uncertainty in this sector, threatening continuity of vocational training and adding enormous stress for an already exhausted Te Pūkenga staff.

“This is another example of the new government’s absence of vision and its disregard for workforce development and workers’ wellbeing.”

Wagstaff said the Government is underestimating how costly this change process will be, in terms of losing momentum to service delivery, impact on learners, impact on current staff, and financially.

“The new Government has talked repeatedly about being careful with taxpayer money, and about doing evidence-based policy. Yet it is embarking on an uncosted and unplanned restructure of the vocational education sector without providing any evidence as to how this will improve outcomes for learners. This is the very opposite of responsible government.”

Wagstaff said that the Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds needs to front up with a plan.

“The NZCTU invites Minister Simmonds to articulate her vision for vocational education, and to explain how the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga will deliver this vision. We also invite the Minister to do some homework and figure out how much this is all going to cost.”

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Workplace Relations Minister is misleading New Zealanders, say unions

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The new Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden must be upfront with the public, say the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff said yesterday’s Newstalk ZB interview with Minister van Velden contained false information.

“The NZCTU was categorically not consulted on repealing Fair Pay Agreements by the new Minister.

“It is very concerning that the Minister of Workplace Relations doesn’t understand what consultation is in practice, considering the importance of this concept for the portfolio.”

Wagstaff said that the public announcement of FPAs being repealed before Christmas was made at the same time that the NZCTU first met with the Minister.

“We are unsure if the timing of the meeting was deliberate, and whether it was done so she could pretend that consultation did happen.

“Genuine consultation cannot occur if a decision has already been reached by the Minister.

“At no point did the Minister say she wanted to consult on FPAs. She asked us ‘to explain what an FPA was’ and ‘to give her an update on our thinking on where they are up to’.

“She did suggest she was weighing things up, but we were not invited to brief her properly on FPAs as part of a consultation Cabinet paper process.

“At no point were alternate options canvassed, nor was the government’s position, timetable, or the possible consequences of the end of FPAs discussed.”

Wagstaff said Minister van Velden invited him to a meeting after receiving the NZCTU’s written Briefing to the Incoming Government, and that during the half hour meeting, Fair Pay Agreements were discussed for ten minutes.

Wagstaff said, “We want to have a constructive relationship with this Government, in the way we have been able to do with all previous Governments. This is not the start we would’ve hoped for.”

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PISA results continue to show more to be done for equity in education

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“The main result PISA consistently shows is that if you are fortunate enough to be born into a financially comfortable family, you will do better academically.

“On the face of it, the results continue a pattern that has been trending downward for the last 20 years. However, when looking at these results we need to take the broader educational context into account.

“The old-school form of assessment PISA uses is becoming increasingly irrelevant here in Aotearoa New Zealand and many other countries around the world. This was demonstrated by the relatively low number of schools that took part – well short of the PISA target.

Chris Abercrombie said when the PISA assessments were done, in 2022, the world was in the midst of a pandemic and PISA was simply not a priority. “Definitely in Aotearoa New Zealand, it was an unnecessarily high stakes investment for low return for schools.

“Participation in PISA is voluntary here, and we have seen over the last several years an increasing unwillingness among students to do these assessments as they are not meaningful to them. In other countries, particularly those that have traditional styles of assessment, i.e. rote learning and multi-choice questions, participation in PISA is compulsory and students are actually trained in how to do the assessments.

Chris Abercrombie said schools in New Zealand did not need PISA. “Schools are more interested in raising achievement levels and ensuring better educational outcomes for all young people.

“I hope the government reads the writing on the PISA wall and realises that if it is serious about improving educational achievement, the most important thing it can do is address the widening gap between the haves and have nots in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

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Secondary teachers question rationale for changes to relationship education guidelines

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“When asked by the media early last week about this policy, I said secondary teachers were not sure what the problem was that needed fixing. However, the Prime Minister’s comments, reported on Friday, give us cause for serious concern. None of the reasons he has given for the need for change are valid.”

Radio NZ reported on Friday that Mr Luxon said the government wanted a well-defined (health) curriculum, agreed to by experts that makes sure that the content is age-appropriate, requires parents to be consulted and that gives parents the right to withdraw their children from this education.

“All of these conditions currently apply to the relationship and sexuality education guidelines,” says Chris Abercrombie.

“The guidelines are evidence-based, coming with a separate pedagogical guide for teachers. The lead writer is an academic who is an expert in this field of knowledge, the guidelines are age appropriate – there are separate guidelines tailored for younger and older students – schools are required by the Education and Training Act to consult with their communities on the delivery of the health curriculum and parents can withdraw their children from all or part of it. 

“Not one of the reasons given by the Prime Minister appears to be valid. This is extremely disturbing given this change, initiated by NZ First,  was agreed to as part of the National Party’s coalition agreement with NZ First. We would have hoped the Prime Minister would have made sure there was a very sound rationale for this change before putting it in the agreement.”

Chris Abercrombie said the apparent lack of a valid rationale for the change set a very dangerous precedent. “Who’s to know whether the government will decide a little further down the track that the guidance for the science curriculum, or the social studies curriculum needs to be removed – for equally invalid reasons?”

PPTA Te Wehengarua intends to raise its concerns with the Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, at its first meeting with her soon.

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More than 10k people sign petition to keep FPAs

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Unions are heartened by the response to a petition to keep Fair Pay Agreements, which has now reached well over 10,000 signatures.

NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff said it was a sign of how popular the new legislation was amongst workers.

“We are seeing working people standing together to protect FPAs. Workers have been doing it tough during the cost-of-living crisis, and the single most effective protection we have is Fair Pay Agreements.

“FPAs could revolutionise entire industries, lifting pay, conditions, and access to training. We also believe the new laws will stop the brain drain to places like Australia, which have similar systems to FPAs in place.

“This is a game-changer for hundreds of thousands of Kiwi workers.”

The petition milestone was reached after Newshub yesterday revealed that the Government was ignoring the negative impacts of repealing Fair Pay Agreements, and the advice of its own officials.  That advice showed the repeal would disproportionately affect already marginalised workers, such women, disabled workers, Māori, and Pasifika.

FPAs have already been initiated in multiple low-paying industries, including bus driving, cleaning, security, hospitality, supermarkets, early childhood education, and port work.

Wagstaff said, “Any Government whose first move is to strip the promise of a better working life away from hundreds of thousands of people is profoundly out of touch.

“They should be listening to the people who would benefit from an FPA, and to the thousands who want to see FPAs protected.”

The petition can be accessed at: https://www.together.org.nz/keep_fair_pay_coming

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Leaked paper shows disregard for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Kiwi workers

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

A cabinet consultation paper provided to the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions by Newshub today, shows the incoming Government is disregarding the negative impact of repealing Fair Pay Agreements, and the advice of their own officials.    

NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff said the paper shows the Government ignoring the impact on workers in a cost-of-living crisis and reflected poorly on Christopher Luxon’s management of the policy.

“This demonstrates the profoundly out of touch priorities Christopher Luxon has for New Zealand. Alnd already, it seems like he’s lost control of his cabinet.

“This Government has made a choice to prioritise cutting pay and conditions for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Kiwi workers, by repealing the FPA Act.”

The paper outlines the process by which Fair Pay Agreements would be repealed. In one section, it outlined who would benefit from improvements to working conditions.

“Given [women, Māori, Pacific people, and young people] are disproportionately represented in workforces where there are lower employment terms, they could have disproportionately benefited from any improved terms obtained by an FPA.”

Wagstaff said Luxon was ignoring the evidence provided by officials about how damaging this move will be.

“By pushing forward with this, Luxon is taking money directly from the pockets of hundreds of thousands of hardworking Kiwis. This comes after last week, where the NZCTU discovered that the Government was prioritising paying out $3 billion for landlords.”

The paper also states that the NZCTU has been consulted on this process. Wagstaff said no proper consultation had taken place with the NZCTU.

“After campaigning to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, one of the first actions of this Government is to make it harder for many workers to get ahead, and to get the protections they deserve. It just proves what we said all along during the campaign that Christopher Luxon is out of touch.”

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The Government must fund care workers before landlords – E tū

Source: Etu Union

E tū, the biggest private sector union in Aotearoa New Zealand, is shocked to learn that the National Party’s coalition agreement with ACT would see planned tax breaks for landlords brought forward, costing at least $900 million according to analysis by the Council of Trade Unions.

The news comes as the new National-led Government is announcing more details about their fiscal plan. E tū urges the Government to prioritise workers and their communities, including essential workers in care and support.

One area that needs urgent attention is funding for the care and support pay equity claim. Care and support workers have already waited too long for proper recognition of their skills.

Caregiver and Convenor of the E tū Community Support Industry Council, Marianne Bishop, says funding the sector properly is long overdue.

“It’s stupid that the sector has always been so underfunded,” Marianne says.

“People pay taxes their whole lives, but then have to fight for the care they need when they are older.

“The new Government has some important decisions to make about their priorities. Landlords are not doing it tough, but care and support workers certainly are.

“We have only had up to a 3% pay rise in the last year, with some of us getting nothing, despite the cost of living increasing so much more than that. Everyone is really struggling, especially our colleagues in home support who have to cover their own vehicle costs and other expenses.”

Marianne says the Government needs to fund pay equity to ensure the care sector can function properly in the future.

“We have an ageing population and an ageing workforce. What’s going to happen in 10, or 20 years’ time? How are going to attract new people into the industry if they can’t earn a living? It’s just not going to work.

“We won the first settlement under a National Government in 2017, now it’s time for them to step up again. They keep saying that people voted for change, well now it’s time to really change things for people who need care and those who provide it.” 

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National Government cancelling Fair Pay Agreements will increase inequality – E tū

Source: Etu Union

E tū, the biggest private sector union in Aotearoa New Zealand, says the new National-led Government’s 100-day plan announcement that they will repeal the legislation for Fair Pay Agreements is a giant step backwards.

Fair Pay Agreements were set up under the previous Government as a mechanism for sector-wide collective bargaining, establishing new minimum pay and conditions that would apply to every covered worker. The law provides full democratic participation from both workers and employers and is similar to sector-wide bargaining processes used around the world, such as Australia’s modern awards.

Security guard Rosey Ngakopu, who has been a key member leader in E tū’s campaign for Fair Pay Agreements, is hugely disappointed.

“It just feels like a slap in the face, it’s completely disrespectful and stupid to cancel our Fair Pay Agreements,” Rosey says.

“Us security guards and our brothers and sisters in cleaning really need improvement in our industries. That’s what Fair Pay Agreements are all about. We need better wages, we need better job protection, and we need proper health and safety. They’ve taken it all away.”

“That’s just the National Party for you though, that’s what they do. Whatever we are able to win, they’ll just rip it away.”

E tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh says the decision will mean workers who have initiated Fair Pay Agreements are missing out on a huge opportunity.

“Fair Pay Agreements were the best improvement to employment law in decades,” Rachel says.

“The mechanism was carefully developed to give workers a real chance at finally winning better pay and conditions. E tū members in cleaning and security have long faced a working life of low wages and inadequate conditions, especially relating to key issues like health and safety, job security, and opportunities for career progression.

“We know that low wages are the key driver of inequality, and workers in industries like cleaning and security suffer the consequences. By removing Fair Pay Agreements before the first ones have even been negotiated, the Government is attacking the most vulnerable people in Aotearoa’s workforce.”

Rachel says this is a poor start for the new Government.

“This decision adds to many more that demonstrate the Government’s backwards priorities. They have announced the return of 90-day trials for all, despite evidence they threaten job security without any meaningful benefit to business or job opportunities.

Further, Rachel says the proposal to remove peoples’ rights to challenge their employment status as contractors in the Employment Court will lock in exploitation and severely constrain the access to justice that is fundamental to our democracy.

“E tū is also deeply concerned about National’s attack on working people on a range of fronts, including through its tax policy. It is galling that this government will remove our world-leading smokefree initiative to help pay for tax cuts for landlords and those already well-off.”