Pilkington glass workers in New Zealand, represented by Engineering, Paper and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) will decide tomorrow night, 14 August, whether or not to escalate industrial actions. During the first days of August, EPMU members at the Hamilton glass plant began a seven-day overtime ban because of a pay dispute.

That was extended last week and union members at another Pilkington plant in Auckland met and agreed to support the Hamilton workers’ job actions. The Auckland workforce, represented by EPMU, was forced to take nine days of job actions last year in a pay dispute. In 2006, UK-based Pilkington was bought by Nippon Sheet Glass for €3.2 billion, in a move to strengthen the Japanese company’s presence in Asia, particularly China.

“The company’s arguing over a quarter of a percent (in Hamilton), and frankly the members are getting sick of this kind of penny-pinching … the members are simply asking for their fair share,” said an EPMU representative, as quoted on the union’s website.