Striking a bargain
Since the planned Fair Pay Agreements have come to the fore (“Labour pains”, April 9), letters in various publications have extolled the virtues of living in the last century. I don’t know if these writers were part of the workforce in the 1960s and 70s or are merely parroting rose-tinted union propaganda of the era.
But for those of us who lived through it, it was a time of state-mandated compulsory unionism, the cooks and stewards on the Interislander ferries striking every holiday period, baggage handlers at Auckland Airport on strike at Christmas, the workers on the Mangere Bridge being on strike more days than they worked – and don’t mention how long it took to build the BNZ building in Wellington.
Even though strikes and other industrial action would be prohibited during bargaining, there are aspects of this FPA proposal that appear likely to result in similar problems, due to the unions being given the power to make nationwide agreements.
Trevor Stevens (Pukekohe)
Of the proposed labour law reforms, all I can say is it’s more than high time. I got my first long-term job in 1986, well-protected by the strong Public Service Association. Come the Employment Contracts Act, those of us who’d been employed prior to it kept our original conditions.
It was no secret my employers wanted all the pre-ECA staff gone as soon as possible. One manager was delegated to hound me. Fortunately, I had not only wished
