New Zealand Affiliate Succeeding at 5% Wage Hikes

New Zealand paper workers at a Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) converting factory in Auckland have won a 5% pay hike, but CHH workers in the woods sector are still staging industrial actions to get similar pay increases. On 23 September, 200 workers at a laminated veneer plant at Marsden Point in Whangarei began a week-long strike aimed at achieving affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s (EPMU) goal of 5% in 2005. The EPMU has succeeded in getting 5% hikes in 269 collective agreements since it’s Fair Share Campaign began in February 2005, 85% of all contracts open this year. The “5% in ‘05” Campaign prompted an industry association spokesman to remark, “If you get the message out there, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”