Workers First Union is a national

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

that was formed as First Union on 1 October 2011 by the merger of the

National Distribution Union The National Distribution Union (NDU) was a national trade union in New Zealand. It was formed in 1986 as the ''Northern Distribution Union'' by the merger of The Northern Drivers Union, The Northern Stores and Warehouse Union, The Auckland a ...

and

Finsec Finance and Information Workers Union (Finsec) was a small organising trade union covering about 6,600 workers in the New Zealand finance sector. It was formed in 1990 from the merger of the Bank Officers’ Union and the Insurance Workers UnionI ...

. It changed to the current name in March 2024.

Leadership and structure

FIRST Union has a membership of more than 31,000 as of 1 October 2023 and is affiliated with the

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU or CTU; ) is a national trade union centre in New Zealand. The NZCTU represents 360,000 workers, and is the largest democratic organisation in New Zealand. History It was formed in 1987 by the m ...

. It is also affiliated to various

international federations A sports governing body is a sports organisation that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions, including disciplinary action for rule infractions and dec ...

through its five sectors; Finance, Industrial (Textile, Clothing, Baking, Wood, Energy), Retail, Stores (distribution and logistics) and Transport. While not affiliated with the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party, also known simply as Labour (), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descri ...

, former NDU secretary

Laila Harré Laila Jane Harré (born 8 January 1966) is a New Zealand former politician and labor union, trade unionist. Joining the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party at 15, she left in 1989 to join the left-wing splinter party NewLabour Party (New Zeal ...

(as an

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

MP) served in the

Fifth Labour Government The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 10 December 1999 to 19 November 2008. Labour Party leader Helen Clark negotiated a coalition with Jim Anderton, leader of the Alliance Party. Overview The pre ...

as Minister for Women's Affairs and was the primary architect of the country's paid parental leave system. The current General Secretary is Dennis Maga, the first Asian New Zealander to lead a major New Zealand trade union. Maga was born in the Philippines and elected general secretary in November 2017.

History

On 7 November 2018, the New Zealand Bakers, Pastrycooks and Related Employees Union amalgamated into FIRST Union. The New Zealand Bakers, Pastrycooks and Related Employees Union reported having 443 members on March 1, 2018, in its annual membership return. On 28 April 2023, the Northern Chemical Workers Union amalgamated into FIRST Union.

References

External links

Workers First
official site. New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Trade unions in New Zealand Trade unions established in 2011 {{NewZealand-trade-union-stub