First Union New Zealand is a national

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

that was formed 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 an ...

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 ...

. On the 7th of 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 1st 2018 in its annual membership return. First Union has a membership of more than 30,000 as of the 1st of March 2021 and is affiliated with the

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU or CTU; mi, Te Kauae Kaimahi) 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 form ...

. It is also affiliated to various

international federations A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule ...

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 ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

, former NDU secretary

Laila Harré Laila Jane Harré (born 8 January 1966) is a New Zealand politician and trade unionist. She was the first leader of the Internet Party, and stood for Parliament in the 2014 general election through the Helensville electorate. From 1996 to 200 ...

(as an

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

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. While undertaking ...

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.

References

External links

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