Episode 1: What are Unions?

To create a better world of work, it's something we need to do together and in today's episode, we will discuss how we can do that. By ourselves our voices can be small, but when we come together, our voices are strong and heard.

A union is a group of workers, who have joined together to improve their workplaces. It is a democratic organisation of working people. When you join a union and pay your union fees, you join with other workers to improve things like pay and conditions. Union members can make change in a range of ways. Sometimes it’s about having resources to look out for one another, so that if something goes wrong at work for an individual then they can get representation, and many unions have membership perks that differ from union to union.

But most importantly, acting collectively can make huge improvements to your work conditions. As an example; If you work somewhere like a checkout at a supermarket for a big national chain, and you go to the manager and ask for a raise, you are unlikely to get anywhere. But if you join with workers from across the store, you have a lot more bargaining power.

So today we are talking with Shani Ross a Union Organiser who showed that anyone can be a leader in their workplace. She made some amazing achievements within her workplace when she was a teenager working at a supermarket in Hawkes Bay by bringing her workmates together and working collectively.