EPMU members win more than national average

New Zealand’s largest trade union says that most of its members have had pay rises this year well above the national average.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national secretary Andrew Little says that, on average, it has settled collective agreements over the past year with three per cent pay rises.

Latest figures from Statistics New Zealand show that workers in the private sector received average pay rises over the past year of 2.5 per cent.

Mr Little said that well-organised workers in the manufacturing sector were negotiating bigger settlements.

The EPMU represents 55,000 workers in 16 mainly private-sector industries, including manufacturing, engineering, forestry and aviation.

Mr Little said that the union’s national Metals and Manufacturing Industries agreement, negotiated with industry employers and the Employers’ and Manufacturers’ Association, had delivered a 3 per cent rise to 2000 workers directly, and indirectly to many thousands more.

“We know that the Metals agreement sets the benchmark in the manufacturing industry – not only for agreements negotiated by us, but for the whole metals and general manufacturing sector,” he said.

“With inflation running between 2.5 per cent and three per cent, the current bouyant state of manufacturing and the tight labour market, three per cent is recognised by us and industry as a fair minimum settlement for most workers.”

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