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E tu¯ , First Union repay $1.6m

Melanie Carroll

Two of New Zealand’s biggest unions have repaid a total of $1.6 million in wage subsidies, but another prominent union, Unite, says it’s not in a position to do so.

The Government has paid a total of $17.5 billion in Covid-19 support since the pandemic hit in March 2020, of which $761m has been repaid. The scheme aimed to keep businesses afloat and employees in work, but there has been criticism of companies which claimed the support and were subsequently profitable.

E tu has repaid $984,005 and First Union has repaid $617,145, the total wage subsidy claimed by the unions.

Both made the repayments voluntarily because their circumstances had changed since applying, according to Ministry of Social Development. The ministry was responding to an Official Information Act request by the Taxpayers Union, which has also repaid the $60,437 in government support it received.

E tu¯ had 55,000 members across industries, a lot of them in aviation, and ‘‘just got hammered’’ when Covid-19 hit, said national secretary Bill Newson. ‘‘We lost a lot of money and a lot of members, we haven’t regrown and got the money back.’’

To be eligible for the 2020 wage subsidy, the applicant’s actual or predicted revenue had to decline at least 30 per cent over a month or 30 days compared with the same period a year earlier.

The union is funded by membership fees it receives monthly or bi-monthly, and because of the timing of income its biggest losses came after the estimated period, Newson said.

The union arranged an audit, which found the money lost in the period did not hit 30 per cent.

First Union also lost members, but not as many as feared, said general secretary Dennis Maga.

‘‘Given our normal growth, we would have expected to achieve a target of 30,000 members by the present date, but due to some closures and redundancies, we’re currently sitting at around 29,000 members. This is much better than we had initially expected.’’

First Union chose to pay back the subsidy because it wanted to show it was a good employer.

Unite Union was struggling and not in a position to repay the $144,792 Wage Subsidy it received for 21 employees, said assistant secretary Gerard Hehir. The union, whose members worked mainly in hospitality, had cut staff hours with further cuts possible.

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2021-10-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

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