August 28, 2008

Media Release

High Court result sensible - EPMU

Today’s High Court decision to allow the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s third party registration to stand is the correct result says the union.

The decision follows the National Party’s attempts to have the EPMU’s third party status revoked.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the decision is in line with the purposes of the Electoral Finance Act.

“This legislation was never about stopping groups from campaigning but about increasing the fairness and transparency of our electoral system, and today’s decision shows that.

“We’ve always been open about the union’s political affiliations and actions and we’ve always campaigned in our own right on the issues that are important to our members.

“We’ve been campaigning hard on the issues of work rights and wages in New Zealand, and we will continue to do this.

“Contrary to some media reports no decision has been made on whether the union will mount an advertising campaign between now and the election but we will be asking all political parties to state their position on our Work Rights Checklist, which has now been endorsed by fourteen thousand EPMU members at our rallies this month.”

The EPMU represents 50,000 working New Zealanders across eleven industries and will be holding the last of its nationwide Work Rights Wage Drive rallies at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium at 1pm tomorrow.

For more information about the Wage Drive visit www.workrights.org.nz

Photos from yesterday’s 6000-strong rally in Manukau are available at www.flickr.com/epmu

ENDS

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