From Mike Kyriazopoulos in Auckland
The Amalgamated Workers Union of New Zealand (AWUNZ) has achieved a groundbreaking Collective Employment Agreement with Allied Workforce, one of the major players in the notoriously “precarious” Labour Hire Industry. There are about 100,000 casual workers in NZ, and AWUNZ are planning to make the Allied Collective the model agreement for the industry.

The Agreement includes a number of improvements above the legal minimum. The real coup is a guaranteed 35 hour week for all employees who have been with Allied for over six months (about 30-40% of the workforce), providing a degree of job security for some of the country’s most vulnerable workers.

Representing the culmination of years of patient work by the union, the Collective was unanimously endorsed by a mass meeting of members in Auckland. Already, workers as far away as Whangarei (170km to the north) are joining up on the strength of the agreement.