Struggle continues, unionists told

Departing Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson has warned members that too many workers remain underpaid and undervalued.

Opening the organisation's biennial conference in Wellington, Mr Wilson, who stands down today after eight years as New Zealand's trade union leader, said though there was much to celebrate, including improvements in annual holidays, minimum wages and paid parental leave, too many workers continued to struggle.

"They support the more `hands-on' approach of building a national strategy for a high-skill, high-value, high-wage economy," he said.

Achieving that was one of the challenges of the next 12 months, including a general election campaign, for which the organisation was well on the way to devising a political strategy.

Mr Wilson urged democratic debate on the real political issues and the "fundamental" differences in policy and values between a centre-left and a centre-right government.

"It is not for the CTU to tell people how to exercise their vote but we have always taken a responsibility to sharpen focus on the issues, and we are already preparing for such a campaign next year." It would be led by Helen Kelly, who is expected to be formally elected the CTU's first woman president today.

Confirmation of her appointment will follow an address by Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow, who will speak on political campaigning.

Mr Wilson said one aspect of the New Zealand experience, the transparency of political funding donations, needed to be improved. "Influence should come from popular support and collective representation, not the size of political donations."

- © Fairfax NZ News