E Tu pushes for pay rise, health & safety representation in multi-employer deal

E Tu, created through the merger of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union and the Service and Food Workers Union, is pushing for a pay rise and more worker representation on health and safety in its biggest and oldest cross-employer manufacturing agreement.

Representatives from the union and nine companies today kick off talks to renew the Metal and Manufacturing Industries Collective Agreement, spanning 600 workers at more than 80 employers, E Tu said in a statement. The multi-employer agreement covers manufacturing and engineering firms of all sizes, and was first established in 1991 when industrial law was overhauled by the Employment Contracts Act.

E Tu is seeking a "fair and reasonable pay increase" and more worker representation in health and safety, industry coordinator Anita Rosentreter said. "Research, including the findings of the Royal Commission into the Pike River Mine tragedy, has shown that worker representation is crucial in fostering a safe workplace."

Workers under the deal received a 2.5% pay rise from negotiations in 2014, following increases of 2.1% and 2.8% covering the 2012 to 2014 period. Government data show ordinary time average wages in manufacturing rose 3.6% to $28.18 an hour in the first quarter of 2016 from a year earlier, following annual gains of 2.2%, 1.8% and 3.3% in 2015, 2014, and 2013 respectively.

The nine firms representing employers are window systems supplier Architectural Profiles, wire and steel products maker Anchor Wire, NZX-listed tap manufacturer Methven, light maker Strand Selecon Lighting, fastener manufacturer and distributor Steelmasters, mixing firm Western Engineering Group, fabricated metal product manufacturer RCR Building Products (NZ), industrial brass fittings producer Reliance Worldwide, and lighting supplier Thorn Lighting (NZ).

Those companies fit the agreement's criteria that they be well-run, profitable, don't have pending lay-offs and are on good terms with the union. Negotiations are scheduled for two days after a series of union meetings in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch last month.

The collective agreement, known as Metals, has shrunk over the past decade, having covered more than 2000 staff at 220 companies in 2005, when current Labour leader Andrew Little headed the EPMU and led a series of strikes for higher pay. Since then, the breadth of the deal halved to 1000 workers at 100 firms in the 2012 deal and has continued to decline.

Multi-employer collective agreements were weakened by the government's changes to employment law in 2014, which allowed firms to opt out of bargaining when a new deal was proposed, a current agreement renegotiated, or where a firm is cited to join an existing agreement.

(BusinessDesk)