Union centre for all

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 260, 25 October 1988, Page 2

Union centre for all

The Waimarino community will benefit from the proposed sub centre of the Wanganui Combined Trade Union District Council, not just union people.

That is according to Michael Cleary who is involved in setting up the centre. He said the centre will aim to match up jobs and unemployed people, answer queries on union matters, improve communications between unions and workers, and between workers, unions and employers. He said in dealing with employers the centre will aim for open discussions.

Mr Cleary said most industrial relations problems in this area are communications related. He said employers are often quite genuinely unaware that problems exist and in such cases it was up to the union to communicate. Mr Cleary said he had discovered there were about 20-25 college students who were being paid less than the minimum rates where

the employer concerned could, he felt, afford to pay more. He said those breaches were a n information problem mostly and that in many cases t h e employers were quite willing to rectify the situation. Mr Cleary said in this area there a many problems associated with the transient nature of the work force because of the seasonal nature of most activities. He said the centre will be funded by various unions in the area.