About Union

Last year I worked in Cadbury Confectionary Manufacturer for about ten months.I saw that the union members of this company held a couple of meetings to discuss about over-hours rates of their pay.I didn't understand what the union was and what its funtion was as well.On 3rd April,I attended a class about 'union'.Now I understood it more and more. First of all,a union is a association that workers orgnized voluntarily,or ,to further their mutual interests with respect to wages,hours,working conditions and other matters of interest to the workers.You can choose if you want to join.Secondly,unions have traditionally negotiated with employers about pay rates,hours of work and working conditions such as holidays sick pay,safe & healthy workplaces etc.Thirdly,employers have no rights to choose the union leader,instead the leader is elected by the union members.Finally,the union may decide to go on a strik if collective agreement has expired when negotiating a new CA must give resonable notice.There are about 330000 New Zealanders belong to a union,51.5 percent of them are women.