Union wage settlements outstrip average

Workers who are in unions are winning wage increases far in excess of the national average, a private sector union said today.

Today’s Labour Cost Index showed New Zealanders’ wages increased on average by 1.6 percent in the year to September 2010. Inflation is running at 1.5 per cent.

“There is a big gap between the national average and the union negotiated average – Victoria University’s recent employment survey showed wages increased by 4.2 per cent in the past year for workers negotiating collectively,” National Distribution Union General Secretary Robert Reid said.

“NDU negotiated settlements have also seen strong wage growth,” Robert Reid said. “Union members at Progressive (Countdown, Foodtown, Woolworths) supermarkets, Bunnings and Kmart have all achieved increases of between 50c and $1.20 an hour (3% - 9%), members in The Warehouse are currently voting on an NDU negotiated offer that will see wages rise by almost 8% over the next two years, and a number of transport and manufacturing companies have signed agreements with the NDU that guarantee to pay 3-3.5% or the CPI next year, whichever is the higher.”

“Workers not in unions will find their wages are in fact going backwards, as they struggle to keep up with inflation. It is clear that it pays to be in a union,” he said.

Robert Reid said that the big gap in union and non-union wage movements also highlighted the problems with current employment law proposals to block workers from accessing unions.

“Any government with a serious plan to close the Australian wage gap would not want to put any barriers in the way of workers accessing unions to bargain collectively.”

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