What rights do unions have?

Unions have rights to:

1. Enter workplaces to talk to members and to recruit new members

2. Hold two union meetings each year

3. Organise employment relations activities for their members to attend on pay

4. Negotiate collective agreements

5. Act for members in resolving employment relations problems

6. Get advice and assistance from the Employment Relations Service in dealing with employment relations issues

7. Access the mediation service, the Employment Relations Authority, and the Employment Court.

Employees have an absolute right:

• to choose to join a union or to choose to not join a union

• to join a particular union in preference to joining some other union

• to resign from a union.

It is illegal for anyone to use "undue influence" to try to make another person join or not join a union or to resign from a union.

Undue influence may include:

• an employer threatening to make life difficult for, or dismiss, someone unless he or she resigns from a union

• union members engaging in actions to intimidate non-members, or vice versa.

How to join a union?

If you are currently working within the NZ Halal Industry and would like to join the Union, please contact the Union office in Christchurch for a membership form

Your rights

Union members' rights

Employers may not:

• decline to employ someone because that person is a union member

• offer inferior terms and conditions of employment, or withhold

• training or promotion, to employees because they are union members.

Non-union members' rights

Employers may not:

• decline to employ someone because that person is not a union member

• offer inferior terms and conditions of employment, or withhold training or promotion, to employees because they are not union members.

Rights of employees engaged in union activities

Employees who have been engaged in union activities have some special protections under the Employment Relations Act 2000. It is illegal for an employer to offer inferior conditions, to sack, or to force employees out of their jobs because those employees have been active in union-related activities. Such activities include an employee being a union officer or delegate or collective bargaining representative, or an employee claiming employment rights for that employee or for other employees, or participation in a lawful strike.

for more information please visit the Department of Lobour website at www.ers.dol.govt.nz

At the Halal Union, we have a strong belief that if you provide people with the resources they need, they can accomplish great things