The lecture of unions

The lecture was talk about unions in New Zealand on April 3, 2007 by Sarah Hardman. In the begin of this lecture she given us the define of union that is works organized in to a voluntary association, or union to further their mutual interests with respect to wages, hours, work condition and other matters of interest to workers. There are two important parts of this defined and lecturer explain them. The first one is meaning of voluntary, it means unions are voluntary so you can choose if you want to join. The second point is “to further their mutual interests”, it be interpreted for unions have traditionally negotiated with employers about pay rates, hours of work and working conditions such as holiday, sick pay and so on.

After that she asked audiences five questions and give answers for them which are:
Q: How many New Zealander belong to a union?
A: About 330,000
Q: Are them more men or women?
A: There are 51.5% women.
Q: Can an employer choose the leader?
A: The employer has no say
Q: Can the union members choose the leader?
A: The members vote their leader
Q: Can any worker go on strike if they are angry with the boss?
A: NO. You can go on strike if collective agreement has expired when negotiating a new CV must give reasonable notice.

In the end of the lecture, she shows us some pictures of strike for fair working condition that is strike of MacDonald’s employers and New Zealand‘s nurse.

I have learned some knowledge about New Zealand union from this lecture, but I also have a lot of question. I want to know who pay emolument for employer who working in unions. I think the union is not a formal department, so where is the fund support might be is a question for them.

To sum up, I feel this lecture could help me to understand the union culture of New Zealand.