UNION BULLYING

In the 70s my wife and I owned a small retail business.  A representative of the Retail Workers Union turned up one day and demanded to talk to our staff.  These were the days of compulsory unionism.  The Union would negotiate with the Retailers' Association each year.  Any agreement reached was compulsory and imposed on every retailer regardless of whether you belonged to the Association or not (which we did not being too small to afford the Association fees).  Also, any employees had to be members of the Union.  The Union  had the right to enter our premises, interview staff and to examine the wages book. 

One of our young staff had just started and was not a union member. The Union Rep told her she must join and must start paying the weekly fees, which amounted to about 5% of her gross wages.  She refused.  The Rep called us over and told us she had to join.  We demurred and said it was up to her.  The Rep left and 3 days later a letter arrived from the Union stating we had to fire our staff member if she did not join the Union within 10 days.  We ignored it.  A month later, the Rep returned with some local Union big wig in tow (as a number of the surrounding retailers had similarly ignored the Union demands).  The big wig demanded the poor lass join the Union.  Again she bravely faced them down and refused.  He turned to us and said we had to fire her.  We said no.  He looked around the shop and said to us "It would be shame if that big plate glass window got broken."  We replied, "Insurance will take care of that."  "How long will you get cover if the window gets broken weekly?" he replied.  We got the message.  We gave the girl a pay increase to cover the fees and she joined the Union.  Go the Ports of Auckland, smash the bastards.