The Service & Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota (SFWU) was a

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 ...

. It was 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 for ...

and the New Zealand Labour Party. The SFWU was organised into five industry sectors: *Age Care, Disability, Health & Community Services *Catering, Cleaning and Contract Services *Clerical, Administration & Technical Services *Food & Beverage Manufacturing & Processing *Hospitality, Tourism & Entertainment Services The Service & Food Workers Union filed a case with the Employment Court against Terranova, a rest home operator, in relation to allegations that it paid its caregivers lower wages that it would otherwise pay if its work force was not predominantly made up of women. The case went all the way to the

Court of Appeal of New Zealand The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rather t ...

, where it was upheld in 2015. The government then took it on itself to negotiate a settlement, which was announced in April 2017 as "the largest pay increase in New Zealand's history". In October 2015, the Service & Food Workers Union merged with the

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) was the largest private sector trade union in New Zealand. It was formed in 1996 by the merger of the Engineers' Union (EU), the Printing, Packaging and Manufacturing Union (PPMU), and th ...

to form E tū.

References

External links

Official website
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Trade unions in New Zealand Trade unions disestablished in 2015 {{NewZealand-trade-union-stub