Corporates on greed drive with lockouts
The corporate sector are on another greed drive with a series of lockouts around the country.
The highest profile examples have been at the Waharoa Open Country Cheese factory and Auckland bus drivers although several smaller groups of workers have been harried by bosses because they have decided on strike action to support their claims for better pay and conditions of work.
Strikes and lockouts are features of the battle between workers who sell their labour and bosses whose priority is maximum profit for shareholders. In union parlance this is class warfare and those brought in to replace striking or locked-out workers are scabs.
Lockouts are usually not so common but employers have been much more aggressive in recent years and the simple truth is that despite various union campaigns workers are still going backwards.
Unionised workers in the private sector in New Zealand are just 9 percent of the workforce and this is the single most important reason New Zealand wage rates are now 30 percent behind those in Australia.
The increased profile of lockouts means bosses are more confident and more aggressive during the recession. Despite strong economic growth for the decade of the Labour government wages rose only slightly while profits increased rapidly.
Having failed to deliver decent pay increases in the good times, bosses now want workers to pay for the recession as well. Even businesses doing well in the recession are using it as a cover to cut jobs, pay and conditions of employment.
It confirms the old story that there is never a good time to ask for a wage increase and emphasises the huge power imbalance in employment relationships.
Meanwhile Open Country Cheese is confidently playing hardball. Despite being told by the Employment Court that their lockout is illegal the management has refused to allow the workers to return to their jobs saying it wants agreement the workers will co-operate with an investigation into alleged sabotage at the plant.
The union has strenuously denied the allegations but the management is smug with self-satisfied arrogance.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Fankhauser has focused on investigations into alleged sabotage while sidelining allegations of assault by one of his managers against a striking worker.
At the heart of the dispute is the union trying to negotiate a collective employment agreement for its members at the plant.
It’s not a dispute about a pay increase – the union members have gone on strike for a collective agreement and have accepted a nil wage increase as part of their claim.
Auckland bus drivers similarly faced a lockout after taking strike action two weeks ago. However the workers are fighting back. Despite the threat of a lockout the Auckland bus drivers voted in a secret ballot by 98 percent to 2 percent for strike action to continue.
The bus drivers won’t be easily cowed and neither will the dairy workers. They deserve backing from other workers for standing up against the greed-driven bullying of these corporate scumbags.
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Sorry John, the reasons we're 30% behind in wages to Australia is that we don't have the natural resources and our productivity is rubbish. Also I'd imagine the fact that most of the talent in NZ leaves these shores thanks to the stagnant mess that 9 years of Labour governing left us with, has a lot to do with it.
Contrary to what you may beleive John, businesses do not exist to provide jobs.
If someone hates thier employer and or thinks they are getting a raw deal, they should quit - thats the beauty of living in a free country! If they are truly 'worth' more than they were being paid, then another employer should have no problem taking them on and paying them accordingly.
Even better, they should get together with thier union mates and raise enough capital to open a business in competition with thier former employer. Then they could pay everyone $300 an hour and everyone would be happy!
Un-skilled workers across the world are vulnerable to abuse at many levels. If someone can replace you after 1 weeks training then you have a problem. Let this be a lesson for your kids to get a good education and aim for a high skilled career.
Bob
John, we just can't magically give everybody higher wages without consequences. Wage increases benefit those who recieve them, but the cost is almost always not born by corporate shareholders, but by you and me. Thats the harsh reality of not living in a post-scarcity Utopia.
Good example, the Progressive Enterprises distribution workers strike, which ended with the workers getting a fairly substantial pay increase. That would have increased costs for Progressive, so what do you think they'll do; A) meekly accept a reduced profit margin, or B) pass on the cost by increasing prices at their supermarkets. The union gained a pay rise for its members, paid for by every single New Zealander through their grocery bill.
Unions are an inequitable and confrontational relic of a time prior to good employment law. The sooner they cease to exist the better off our society will be.
"greed-driven bullying of these corporate scumbags"
In John's world, there is no such thing as a responsible or good employer is there? And no such thing as a bad employee!
Why is it that during a recession Unions don't waive their union membership fees? Some of these unions are sitting on obscene amounts of cash. For what purpose? To support members during times of crisis I bet. So why not start by encouraging unions to put a 6 month freeze on membership fees. That would put REAL money in union member's pockets and the union would come out smelling a lot less like fertilizer.
After being screwed over by my industry's union I went for an individual contract. A few years later the union begged for my department to rejoin them, promising a much better deal this time around. So we rejoined, and they promptly sold us out again. I'm not giving them a third chance.
I've never been as well remunerated or looked after as I have been since taking up an individual contract. Don't believe the hype people, unions offer the world and give you a pile of dirt. By all means be a member if you're young and starting out or in a low-skilled job, but once you start making headway they will only hold you back.
20 years ago the union's power and their abuse of that power led to the Government of the time deliberately breaking the unions. That is the cause of union impotence, not the employers cracking down on them.
How are the workers not equally guilty of being greedy by asking for more money?
Neither the workers nor the corporations are greedy in my view, neither should be looked down upon for trying to get the best possible outcome for themselves.
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I bet you miss the 'good ole days' Johnny Boy, mixin it up in the front lines. Stop livin in the past. Stop whingin, get off your knees and make something of yourself, yourself.