Workers hold mass meeting over agreement

February 3, 2004
Media Release

Workers hold mass meeting over agreement

Hundreds of workers from the metals and manufacturing industries will gather in Wellington tomorrow to discuss industry-wide bargaining.

They are all members of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, and are seeking a renewal of the country’s largest private-sector industrial agreement, the Metals and Manufacturing Industries Collective Agreement.

The agreement currently covers around 200 companies and more than 2000 workers. The union is seeking to increase coverage this year.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said that the Metals was a success story of modern industrial relations, combining the interests of workers and employers from hundreds of companies into a workable industrial agreement.

“This type of collective bargaining is good for setting industry benchmarks for wages and conditions and is what the Employment Relations Act is all about,” Mr Little said.

The meeting will be held at the Petone Workingmen’s Club, in Udy St, Petone, between 10.30am and 11.30am. Similar meetings are being held in other parts of the country.

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