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FIRST Union
Putting Workers First
FIRST Union is New Zealand's second-largest private sector trade union.
Formed in 2011 after the merger between the National Distribution Union and Finsec, FIRST Union represents 27,000 workers in the Finance, Industrial (Textile and Wood), Retail, Stores, Transport and Logistics sectors.
FIRST Union is also affiliated to the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and runs several networks including the Union Network of Migrants, the Runanga, Fono and Womens' Committee. In 2015 FIRST Union launched Samoa First Union, Samoa's only private sector union.
Join FIRST Union today for higher pay, better conditions and more say at work.
FIRST Union - Latest News [Page 51]
Job security for workers off the menu
Wednesday, 9 September 2009, 8:48 am | National Distribution Union
The Dairy Workers Union has slammed the mean-spirited attempts by Talleys-owned Open Country Cheese to casualise its workforce in the middle of a recession. More >>
South IslandFoodstuffs workers strike over low pay
Thursday, 3 September 2009, 3:06 pm | National Distribution Union
Christchurch and Dunedin supermarkets owned by board members of Foodstuffs South Island are being targeted for protest action today by distribution centre workers who are walking off the job in protest over no progress in their negotiations. The ... More >>
Hui/fono on Maori and Pacific Island Job Crisis
Friday, 28 August 2009, 11:13 am | National Distribution Union
The National Distribution Union is inviting Maori and Pacific Island communities to a hui/fono on responses to the recession this Saturday. Syd Keepa, Apiha Maori of the NDU hui/fono and CTU runanga convenor says his union is concerned about what ... More >>
Minister of Labour may have misled the House
Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 5:31 pm | National Distribution Union
The National Distribution Union (NDU) says that the Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson may have misled the House this afternoon by putting her non-attendance at an existing union engagement down to a “clash of commitments.” More >>
Minister escalating Telecom workers’ dispute
Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 9:21 am | National Distribution Union
The National Distribution Union (NDU) is calling on the Prime Minister to clarify whether his Minister of Labour has unnecessarily escalated the Telecom workers’ dispute, by refusing to meet with a group of workers entirely unconnected to the ... More >>
Govt should protect local jobs in guarantee scheme
Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 9:19 am | Finsec
Finance workers’ union Finsec says the government should have made the protection of local jobs a condition of the extension of the retail deposit guarantee scheme to banks and finance companies announced today. “The government could and should ... More >>
Support For Telco Workers Grows
Thursday, 20 August 2009, 9:40 am | National Distribution Union
Support for the Telco workers made redundant by Telecom contractors has grown with New Zealand’s second biggest private sector union, the National Distribution Union, throwing its weight behind the workers and their union, the EPMU. “Two huge Auckland ... More >>
Working Hours Increase at Summit
Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 10:28 am | National Distribution Union
“Workers at Summit Wool Spinners in Oamaru have learnt today that their hours are being increased as a result of an increase in orders by the company,” says Robert Reid, National Secretary of the National Distribution Union (NDU). “Summit has ... More >>
GST hike good for banks, bad for customers & staff
Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 1:37 pm | Finsec
A proposal to increase GST to 15% to fund cuts to the personal and company tax rates would transfer wealth from customers and staff to the banks themselves says the bank workers union Finsec. The government-appointed review panel have released this recommendation ... More >>
More Redundancies At LWR
Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 9:07 am | National Distribution Union
Media Release: National Distribution Union Monday 17 August 2009 More Redundancies At LWR A further 42 workers have been made redundant this afternoon from Lane Walker Rudkin in Christchurch, the National Distribution Union (NDU) said today ... More >>
Health and Safety initiative doomed without worker
Monday, 10 August 2009, 12:27 pm | National Distribution Union
A union for workers in forestry says that the government’s new health and safety CEO’s initiative is doomed to fail unless it also includes the voices of workers. Kate Wilkinson today released workplace fatality statistics for forestry and several ... More >>
High Dollar Throws Kiwis Out of Work
Friday, 7 August 2009, 11:19 am | National Distribution Union
An unstable dollar is costing many New Zealanders a job says National Distribution Union Secretary, Robert Reid. “Employers keep telling us the high dollar is making life difficult for them,” he says. “The export sector of the economy is being ... More >>
Pacific Brands finally closes doors
Thursday, 30 July 2009, 9:16 am | National Distribution Union
Pacific Brands is finally closing the doors of its Palmerston North and Christchurch factories with a combined job loss of 90. The Palmerston North factory closes soon after 11.00 am today, Thursday and the Christchurch factory on Friday. “A few jobs ... More >>
Finsec welcomes opposition banking inquiry
Tuesday, 21 July 2009, 12:20 pm | Finsec
Bank workers’ union Finsec welcomes the announcement of an opposition inquiry into interest rates. “For many months now Finsec has been raising the question of whether or not the banks are doing everything they should to assist working New Zealanders ... More >>
Changes at the Helm of National Distribution Union
Tuesday, 7 July 2009, 3:43 pm | National Distribution Union
The 20,000 strong National Distribution Union has a new National Secretary-designate. Robert Reid, currently the Union’s President, will take over the role from Laila Harré from August. More >>
Call for disclosure on banks lobbying
Thursday, 2 July 2009, 10:17 am | Finsec
Bank workers’ union Finsec says the decision of the government majority on the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee not to proceed with an inquiry into banks’ interest rates shows the government is either impotent or on the side of Australian ... More >>
Pacific Brands confirms closure of NZ factories
Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 11:52 am | National Distribution Union
Pacific Brands today confirmed the closure of its Palmerston North “Liberty” factory. “The 50 workers received the news at a meeting called by the company at 11.00 am this morning,” says Robert Reid, President of the National Distribution ... More >>
Key action needed for Key closure in Key electorat
Friday, 26 June 2009, 9:01 am | National Distribution Union
The National Distribution Union is challenging Prime Minister John Key and NZ corporate giant Fletcher Building to take proactive action to deal with the 41 jobs lost as a result of the decision of Fletchers to close its Kumeu mill in the PM’s Helensville ... More >>
Union Hails Summit’s Approach To Recession
Thursday, 4 June 2009, 3:04 pm | National Distribution Union
The National Distribution Union (NDU) is hailing the response of Oamaru’s Summit Wool Spinners to a further downturn in the international wool yarn spinning industry. NDU Regional Organiser Ken Young said that a meeting between Summit and the unions ... More >>
Payments to LWR workers; but from union, public
Friday, 29 May 2009, 10:33 am | National Distribution Union
“LWR workers receive their first payments since their redundancies today, but not from the receivers, the government or Westpac. The payments to LWR union members have come from union trust funds and public donations, including the cake stall protests ... More >>
