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.

I THINK I'LL BE WHARFIE

Watching the Ports of Auckland scrap with the wharfies union  triggered some memories.  I remember in my late 20s when I was climbing my way up the corporate ladder after obtaining my finance degree, I was ran into one of my boyhood neighbours.  His uncle was a big time union and TUC leader and his father was an organiser on the Wellington wharves.  My friend, his father, brother and brother in law all worked on the wharves.  He was a year younger than me but earned twice what I was on at the time despite me having just made finance manager in a bank.  My father said that I would out-earn him in later years.  He was right but I worked out the difference in earnings and made some assumptions about his and my likely increases and worked out I would be about 50 before I caught him in total income earned over the years and in present value terms I would not catch him before 60.  Of course, he had the income while his family were young while I was always broke through the same period. 

The immediate and extended family were all avowed communists, including the big union boss.  He used to ride around in a new German car provided each year by the Union while his members and those of our suburb who could afford cars, drove English bombs 20 to 30 years old.  When at college I read Animal Farm by George Orwell, the whole thing clicked and I think my loathing of communism and unions arose from then. 

Despite what I saw at the time as their political hypocrisy, the family were great people and the stalwarts of many of the sport clubs in our area.  The father was a self-taught man of great humour and could have wonderful discussions with you on politics, acknowledging the irony of being able to have such a debate thanks to capitalism, whereas communism would have shot us both for having such debates. 

With age you realise we all get through life as best we can and the rancour and fixed views of youth soften.  I now remember them all with great affection and mourn their deaths as part of my childhood disappearing.