Partnership Resource Centre
CONSULTATION, PARTICIPATION AND CO-OPERATION BETWEEN WINSTONE PULP INTERNATIONAL, THE NDU AND THE EPMU
Introduction, Purpose and Background
Introduction
The Partnership Resource Centre (PRC) is a semi-autonomous unit of the Department of Labour. It has been established by Government to help employers and unions build new positive workplace relationships based on workplace partnerships. One way it is doing this is through the production of a series of case studies designed to describe in practical terms how employers and unions co-operate and work together to achieve outcomes based on mutual gain.
Partnership, in its broadest sense, is used to describe a range of relationships from formal arrangements such as those found within the Public Service through to arrangements within the private sector emphasising consultation, participation and co-operation.
These varied relationships all have in common a commitment by employers and unions to work together, to acknowledge and encourage the contribution that workers and unions can make to improved business performance and the quality of the workplace.
These relationships are dynamic. To be successful, the parties have to recognise that conflict will arise and they will need to consciously develop processes to manage this in order to keep the focus on their joint objectives.
Purpose
This case study documents the workplace experiences at Kariori Pulp Mill between the employer, Winstone Pulp International (WPI), and the unions, the National Distribution Union (NDU) and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). Over a number of years, these parties have developed close and productive working relationships that are unique in the pulp industry. This relationship can provide some interesting lessons for the broader wood sector and manufacturing industries.
The case study tells the story of the parties’ relationship by describing their experiences and their aspirations for the future. It outlines their motivations, the benefits they have achieved together, and the key challenges and issues that they continue to share.
At the outset, it is important to note that the parties have not expressed their relationship as one of partnership in a formal sense; rather, it has evolved into a relationship of mutual gain that lacks the specific definitions more common to the public sector.
A simple definition, such as the following used by the PRC, may be a more appropriate description of how the parties in this case study would characterise their relationship:
“Workplace partnership is about an active relationship between unions and employers to deliver outcomes that benefit the mutual interests of both parties.”
About the parties and the industry
The pulp industry
There are four main pulp and paper companies with plants in New Zealand, all located in the North Island:
- The Tasman Pulp & Paper Company Limited in Kawerau, owned by Norske Skog, produces market pulp and newsprint.
- Carter Holt Harvey Limited has plants at: Penrose, corrugated medium paper and paperboard from recycled waste paper is produced; at Kinleith, market pulp and paper, and paperboard; at Whakatane, paperboard from mechanical pulp and semi-chemical and waste paper-based pulps; at Kawerau, tissue and other papers.
- Pan Pacific Forest Industries New Zealand Limited operates an integrated sawmill and thermo-mechanical pulp mill at Whirinaki, near Napier.
- Winstone Pulp International has a chemical thermo-mechanical pulp plant near Ohakune.
It is an industry that has historically been unionised, and its employees have enjoyed high levels of pay and very good employment conditions. It has also been the scene for some highly publicised industrial disputes, including work stoppages at Kinleith in 2005.
“Pulp & Paper production workers enjoy some of the highest paid wages for production workers in New Zealand.”
Jim Jones – Wood Sector Division Secretary NDU
Winstone Pulp International
WPI is based near Ohakune in the central North Island. It has been in operation for nearly 26 years in forestry, milling and manufacturing pulp and saw logs for both the local and overseas markets. It is one of the largest employers in the region and has fostered strong links with the community, from which it draws many of its staff.
The National Distribution Union
The NDU is one of the biggest private sector unions in New Zealand with over 20,000 members working in various industries and occupations. The union is structured into four sectors: Retail and Entertainment, Transport Energy Stores, Textile Clothing Baking, and the Wood Sector.
The union has around 2,300 members in the wood sector in the following areas; forestry, silviculture, harvesting, transport, solid wood, sawmills, pulp and paper, re-manufacturing, pre-nail frame, truss plants, box and pallets, pre-home fabrication and laminated beams, panels, hardboard, Gib board, veneer, door plants, melamine, MDF, soft board and tri-board.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union
The EPMU is New Zealand's largest private sector trade union. It grew out of a series of amalgamations between smaller, traditional craft-based unions, among them some of the oldest unions in the country.
It has over 50,000 members in 10 industries, including the forest products industry, where it covers a range of operations from small sawmills to large panel, pulp and paper and solid wood processing plants. It also includes drivers and contractors working in harvesting and silviculture.
Unions working together
The unions have WPI staff as union members in the following proportions:
- NDU: 54 members in production and stores
- EPMU: 59 members in trades and stores.
Their members’ terms and conditions of employment are covered by one collective agreement with variations covering unique occupational groups and/or production areas. Central to the relationship between both unions is their own, newly created partnership. These unions have developed a joint five-year strategy with the objective of increasing the influence and size of the unions within all sectors of the forest products industry by achieving the following:
The unions’ goal is that by 2010 the forest products industry will be recognised for its mature, highly skilled, unionised workforce.
The unions can work directly and indirectly to influence and achieve this.
Direct influence
- Building strong and organised unions
- Developing world class health and safety standards
- Creating training and education opportunities
- Advancing environmental standards
- Achieving bargaining linkages
- Promoting international union contact.
Indirect influence
- Encouraging greater capital investment
- Promoting new technology
- Advocating for improved infrastructure
- Supporting secure energy supply
- Seeking more research and development.
As part of this industry strategy, the unions have developed protocols around bargaining and growth which reflect a commitment to the principles of co-operation rather than competition. At the Kariori Mill, this is evidenced by an agreement to acknowledge each union’s areas of membership coverage and not to recruit beyond these parameters.
Method
This case study’s primary focus was on letting individuals tell their own story in a relaxed manner. A cross-section of WPI’s employees and NDU and EPMU members were interviewed. Interviews were undertaken with essentially one very broad open question.
“Describe the relationship between the employer and unions at WPI.”
What emerged was a consistent picture of the parties’ relationship over a long period of time and a consensus over their future challenges.
Prior to the conclusion of the case study, the parties had an opportunity to provide comments and feedback.