Since our last Update there has been a lot going on. This will give you a bit of a summary - most importantly it lets you now how you can be involved in building our new union

Joint Delegate Forums

May 2008
Joint forums of NDU, SFWU and Unite delegates to meet and talk amalgamation issues are happening in May. This is your chance to meet each other, and hear and discuss the opportunities for building greater power through a new union. There will be other opportunities through the year to also be involved in joint meetings so if you miss out on these ones don't be worried.
The dates and locations of the joint delegates meetings are:

12 May Wellington
12 May Rotorua
13 May Palmerston North
13 May Christchurch
14 May Auckland
14 May Dunedin

Each forum will run from 10 am to 3.30 pm - allowing those to travel to these centres to make it there in time. Each union will be organising its delegates to come - the day is covered by Employment Relations Education Leave. See your local union office to get more information.

The Name Game

A few ideas have rolled in for the new union's name - have you got one yourself - or even a feeling for what you'd like the name to represent but aren't sure of the best words to describe it?
Email any ideas to newunion@ndu.org.nz

Joint Runanga Hui

A hui for Maori leaders from the three unions will be held at the Apumoana Marae in Rotorua from 16, 17, 18 May. The powhiri will be at 3 pm on Friday 16th May. The kaupapa of the hui is to discuss how Maori will play an active role in shaping and influencing the new union. Your union will have more details soon - contact your own Runanga or union office for more information. The Friday will be a paid education leave day.

Already working together

The three unions are already giving each other help on organising projects and doing some things together. Here are some examples:

• The SFWU central women's committee are inviting union sisters from the NDU and UNITE to a meeting soon.


• NDU staff have been helping Unite with a recruitment blitz after they made the best fast foods settlement yet - at KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks. Unite have signed up over 1000 new members in these stores in the last fortnight.


• SFWU's picket lines were reinforced by their mates from the NDU and UNITE during their recent 24 hour Spotless strike.


• Organisers are helping the SFWU with their Clean Start recruitment blitz.


• The three unions have made a joint application to the Department of Labour Education Fund to seek assistance in developing an online and on-the-phone education and information centre for workers - not only existing members but also the many thousands who are in non-union workplaces but want to be in the union.

Talking organising

In our last update we said that there would be a workshop in Rotorua in February to talk about new ways of organising in the new union. The big issues that are being taken further from that workshop are:

• Looking at what industries and/or sectors members of the three unions work in, and drawing up proposals for industry/sector groupings for the new union.


• Greenfields organising, industry and growth campaigns - the importance of having a strong section in the new union dedicated to organising more members and more workplaces across our industries and implementing winning union campaigns.


• Making the most of new technology - especially the setting up a call centre to field incoming enquiries/problems from members/delegates and outgoing calls to let you know how to get involved in our industrial and other campaigns.


• Promoting a new category of membership - to enable the majority of workers in many of the industries we organise who haven't got a collective agreement to join the union, get support and get involved.


• These ideas are at the heart of our project to build a new union - so that we can give better service to existing members, recruit more members in more workplaces and run and win bigger and better campaigns.

Report from the March Steering Group meeting:

This meeting focused on some ideas around possible operational (staff and management) structures for the new union. It also discussed some initial thoughts on how policy could be made in the new union and how members could be involved in that.

• Financial Resources - A report was given on the processes for 'due diligence' between the unions involved in the new union. 'Due diligence' is a process for transparently working out what actual financial and other resources we will have to power the new union through an audit of what the three unions currently have on a combined basis. This process has started and will be completed by the end of April so that we do not plan structures and arrangements beyond the financial resources available to the new union.


• Operational Structure - Currently the NDU and SFWU structure all or most industrial work on either regional or sector lines (or a combination of the two). Each has a small separate team dedicated to campaigns and growth. Unite staff all work in one national team. The steering group is looking at the best way to organise our staff and management to achieve the union's goals. One option we have discussed is building the operational structure around the kind of work we do. That would mean having national sections (and local leadership where necessary) with clear responsibility for different types of work, such as:


• Offensive Work - Greenfields organising, major priority industrial and political campaigns.


• Industry Work - developing and leading industry-based organising strategies, industry-based member networks and formal structures, engagement with other industry stakeholders - unions, government, employer, industry training organisations, industry development agencies etc, international industry-based union networks, strategic bargaining.


• Support Services - The people and systems that support all our work including looking after our buildings and technology, managing money and keeping and maintaining our membership system.


• Union Democracy - looking after our policy-making and democratic structures, supporting the Runanga, local organising and activist groups, and other whole-union networks, and representative group support, working with the CTU, political parties and other allies.
  This concept will be taken back to each of the unions and a further discussion will be held on proposed operational structures at a future meeting.

How policy is made and how the union is governed

Each union talked about how it makes policy and oversees management now. We discussed the role of membership meetings (formal and informal); conferences; executives; regional organising committees; workplace, company, and industry union structures; and representative and activist groups. The recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi and the place of a Runanga in the new union's governance structure was discussed as was whether we would prefer policy confirmation through delegated conferences or membership-based annual general meetings.
We are doing more work and costings on a combination of these things:

• A large Annual Conference for primary policy making.


• Regular general membership meetings.


• A National Executive representing industries, regions, Runanga and representative groups with a membership of 18-21 people.