Pacific workers most unionised but still lowest paid as new plan sparks discussion

Pacific workers are among New Zealand’s strongest supporters of unions but they are still the country’s lowest-paid major ethnic workforce.

Figures from the 2025 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) report show 33 per cent of Pacific workers belong to a union, compared with 23 per cent of all New Zealand workers.

Meanwhile, Stats NZ data for the year to June 2025 shows Pacific workers earn a median hourly wage of $31, well below the national median and the lowest among Aotearoa's four largest ethnic groups. European workers earned the highest rate, at $36.44 an hour.

The figures have come under fresh attention after the Green Party proposed automatically enrolling new employees into unions if they are covered by a collective agreement. Workers would still be able to opt out.

Supporters say the change could strengthen workers' bargaining power and help lift wages and conditions. Critics argue it should remain a personal choice.

Rachel Mackintosh, E tū national secretary, says Pacific workers have long recognised the value of standing together.

Listen to Rachel Mackintosh's full interview below.

"Pacific workers just understand that you get better outcomes if you are collective - everybody working together, everybody supporting each other," she tells PMN News.

Mackintosh says collective bargaining gives workers more power when negotiating pay and conditions.

"A union fee is an investment in your future and in your workmates, and our experience in the union is that people get way more than their union fee back in gains through collective bargaining," she says.

Pacific workers have high representation in sectors that have union support, such as construction, manufacturing and education. Photo/File

"Workers across the country have had increases less than inflation, which means they're going backwards, and that's what happens if you try and negotiate individually."

But Wellington employment lawyer Papali'i Toti Lagolago says workers should decide for themselves whether joining a union is right for them.

Papali’i says workers should also be free to choose where they get employment advice, whether through a union, Community Law, an employment advocate or a lawyer.

"Although unions are a good idea, to make it compulsory is taking the option away from people, whether they want to join or not," she tells PMN News.

"Choice is important for people in terms of their finances. They might not like the union or what the union is doing or the collective employment agreement that's been negotiated."

Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono says auto-enrolment to a union will strengthen workers' collective voice. Photo/Green Party

Teanau Tuiono, Green Party workplace relations spokesperson, says the proposal would not force anyone to stay in a union.

"The only difference is that workers would be opting out rather than opting in," he says in a statement.

The proposal has also drawn criticism from the ACT Party. Parmjeet Parmar, ACT workplace relations spokesperson, says workers should join unions because they see value in them, not because the law makes membership the default.

“Who are the Greens to decide how workers should spend their own pay?” she asks in a social media post.

“If unions offer value, they should persuade people to join voluntarily, not rely on the law to do the recruiting.”

Labour has told the NZ Herald it supports unions and collective bargaining but will announce its workplace policies closer to the election.

For many Pacific workers, the debate goes beyond politics.

While Pacific workers continue to have higher union membership than the national average, they also continue to earn the lowest median wages.

Whether automatic enrolment would help change that is now at the centre of the discussion.