Fairness For Wesley

The below is from our Fairness For Wesley campaign - a leaflet we have been sharing around Wesley for the last fortnight.

We are speaking up for fairness, for the whole Mt Roskill community, and especially here in Wesley.

Fairness means that people in our community have equal opportunities, support when it is needed, and a fair go.

Unfortunately, over a long period of time we have not been treated fairly. Did you know that for every $1 that Council spends in other communities on facilities and services for people, only 74 cents gets spent in Puketapapa/Mt Roskill? That isn’t right and we are here to fight for a fair deal.

Roskill Community Voice is your local team standing for the Puketapapa Local Board, working with City Vision candidates for Ward Councillor positions, at the Council elections. We are running a ‘Fairness for Wesley’ campaign to ensure that local people get a fair go.

Below you will find our policies to win Fairness for Wesley. We are the only team presenting a complete set of policies about local issues to the people of Wesley this election.

Our campaign to win Fairness for Wesley means a Local Board and Ward Councillors who will work with the community to achieve:

• Better library services - We need to instill a love of reading and learning in our young people, but Wesley has some of the poorest access to library services in Auckland. We will fight to bring better library services to Wesley. 
• Education and jobs for our people - We believe that Council can play a more active role in helping our young people into education, training and work. We will work actively to try and attract a tertiary education provider into our community, and develop pathways for young people to move through into apprenticeships, training, and good paying jobs. 
• A Living Wage - It is a matter of justice that people get paid enough to live on. With good incomes we can ensure that our families can afford good food, healthy housing, and adequate healthcare. We are the only team in Mt Roskill that is fully committed to the Living Wage. 
• Upgrading our Parks - We will take action to advance the upgrade of Walmsley/Underwood Park to better meet community needs. Members of the Roskill Community Voice team are also leading work to upgrade the Mt Roskill War Memorial. 
• Fair treatment for Housing - New Zealand tenants and neighbours Housing New Zealand is looking to make major changes to its housing stock and may look to intensify Wesley. We need to ensure that the voice of the local community is heard and that we retain public housing in our community for local people. 
• Rail to Roskill - We are the team who is leading the charge to bring Rail to Roskill. A train line from Avondale to Dominion Rd, with a station at Stoddard Rd would bring huge convenience and opportunity for our local community. 
• Traffic safety - It is time to take action on traffic safety issues in Wesley. We will back the local community and push for changes to improve safety on Sandringham Rd, O’Donnell St, and other areas of concern.

RCV Policy on Town Centres and Economic Development

We need a focused local policy on economic development issues that provides jobs, supports local enterprises, and revitalises our run-down town centres.

Specific policy includes:

• Bringing a greater focus on to the development of an integrated high quality town centre at Stoddard Rd, including development of a Precinct Plan. 
• The development of retail strategy for local and town centres to support the development of a clear retail identity for each area, and a strategic approach to growth. 
• Working with the Mt Roskill Business & Community Groups Association on initiatives to encourage local people to ‘buy local’. 
• A strong focus on improvements to Roskill Main Street, including establishment of a trial dollar for dollar subsidy scheme to improve the appearance of shops. 
• Development of a local economic development plan that builds on Roskill’s strengths and focusses on local high-wage jobs. 
• Support for the Living Wage, which will put more money into the pockets of local people to spend in our community. 
• Fostering local young people into training and apprenticeships, and advocating for a tertiary education provider to provide services in Roskill

A full index of our policy can be found here, updated regularly as we release policy throughout the election campaign.

RCV Policy on Young People

Shail Kaushal, one of Auckland's youngest candidates for election has launched Roskill Community

Shail Kaushal

Voice's policy on young people today. We believe strongly in the need to positively support our young people. Roskill's young people are smart, creative, and community minded. We just need to create the right environment and supports to see them flourish. 

Our full policy follows and can be viewed along with other policy released to date here.

RCV Policy: Young People   
Our young people need to be seen as a strength in our community, not a problem to be ‘solved’. We need to provide support and resourcing to ensure that local young people have the opportunities they need to grow, develop, and contribute back to the community. 

Our 2013 policy on young people includes:

• The ongoing development and support of a comprehensive Youth Action Plan that provides a framework for supporting youth leadership and aspirations.  
• Working to deliver an empowered Puketapapa youth caucus, including joint meetings with the Local Board so that ideas and aspirations are shared.  
•  A strong focus on linking our local young people to training, skill development, and apprenticeships. We must provide the means for our youth to move into productive, high wage jobs.   
•  We will take advocate for a credible tertiary education provider to establish a presence in Roskill.   
• Support a Living Wage so that local young people and their families can live in dignity and plan for the future
• Actively support an expansion of the Council cadetship scheme that provides young people with opportunities to develop skills and careers in the Council organisation.
•  Investigate the barriers to local young people participating in organised sport, and investigate a subsidised sports club membership scheme.

The Living Wage - It's about fairness

The Roskill Community Voice campaign is all about winning a fair share for Roskill. Local people deserve the same access to Council services and facilities, we should have our voice heard on important issues, and everyone in our community should have the right to the basics - healthy housing, proper healthcare, and a good start in life.

If we don't aim for those things in our local community then what are we here for?

Pledging our support for the Living Wage last week

The Living Wage is central to all of this. Over 200,000 children in New Zealand live in poverty. A large proportion are actually living in households where parents are working. The problem is alive and well in Roskill - particularly in our Pacific and migrant communities.

The costs of ignoring the problem are huge. We know that poverty increases the incidence of costly diseases, of crime and imprisonment, and of dependence on the welfare system. It all costs real money to 'fix' these problems, and it's not where we should be as a community.

We think that it's time to start at the source of the problem - households simply not having enough money to get by on. It simply makes no sense to allow the problems of low wages to fester, ans then to subsidise it at the back end through public spending. This is where the Living Wage comes in. It's a simple concept that says that people should earn enough to get by on (modestly) and participate in society.

Auckland Council is considering its position, and on the Puketapapa Local Board we have given our support. In the Board's closest vote of the term, both Julie Fairey and Michael Wood supported the Living Wage, and it succeeded on 3-3 split vote with the Chair's casting vote deciding matters. 3/4 C&R members voted against.

The Living Wage is not just about feeling good. It also makes economic sense. People who get paid a fair wage are able to spend more locally, supporting local businesses. Organisations in the UK who pay the Living Wage report big savings as their turn-over rates drop. Here in New Zealand companies like the Warehouse are coming on board for this reason.

It's time for Auckland Council to come to the party. There is a financial cost, but it is relatively modest. It can be paid for out of efficiencies and reductions to increases in executive salaries.

Last week we formally pledged our support to the Living Wage campaign and will actively work to make it happen if re-elected. It's about fairness.

Supporting the Save Our Port campaign

On Saturday a number of Roskill Community Voice members and supporters attended the rally to Save Our Port, to show our opposition to the contracting out of port workers' jobs, and support the watersides and their families as they fight for decent working conditions. 

In the picture above are a number of Local Board members from across Auckland, just a sample of many who came on the rally and support this cause.  Above are (L to R):
Greg Presland & Denise Yates (Waitakere Ranges), Tricia Reade (Waitemata), Julie Fairey & Michael Wood (Puketapapa, Roskill Community Voice), Peter Skelton (Mangere-Otahuhu). 

Other Local Board members spotted on Saturday included Leila Boyle, Josephine Bartley, (Maungakiekie-Tamaki), Richard Hills, Viv Keohane, Grant Gillon (Kaipatiki), Shale Chambers, Christopher Dempsey, Tricia Reade (Waitemata),  Catherine Farmer (Whau), Peter Haynes (Albert-Eden) Denise Yates, Greg Presland (Waitakere Ranges), Lydia Sosene, Peter Skelton (Mangere-Otahuhu).  A number of Governing Body members were also in attendance to show their support, including Sandra Coney, Mike Lee and Roskill Community Voice-endorsed Cathy Casey (from Albert-Eden-Roskill ward, which includes Puketapapa).

A few more pictures to come over the next few days too.

Faulkner Collins relocation nearly sorted?

Article on BusinessDay.co.nz on 18th November:

Motorway dispute could be nearing resolution

A protracted dispute between an Auckland engineering company and the agency building a $40 million motorway interchange through its property could be nearing resolution.

Faulkner Collins, which manufactures wire, tube and sheetmetal products including shopping trolleys, leases premises in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill from the owner, the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Faulkner Collins (FCL) and its 50 staff have got to be off the site by January 3.

Faulkner's managing director Hadley Wright claims the Crown has ''probably spent close to $600,000 fighting us'' while its own costs have amounted to around $540,000.

The long-established company called in help from the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union. Discussions are ongoing but Wright and NZTA's regional director Stephen Town have agreed to not discuss the matter in detail with outside parties until they'd achieved an outcome. Wright is hoping that will be achieved by Monday.

The property is required for the construction of the Maioro Street Interchange project  a key component to support the construction of the $1.4 billion Waterview Connection...

Click through for the rest of the article via the Stuff website.  Previous news items on this website about the issue are Threat to 50 local jobs at Faulkner Collins and our media statement calling for the jobs to be saved and reporting on Michael's visit to the factory.

Fingers crossed a satisfactory resolution is announced in the coming day, to save these jobs and this business.

Media Statement: Local jobs must be protected in Faulkner Collins dispute say Local Board members

Michael Wood with Faulkner Collins worker and EPMU delegate Sue Turnbull

“The over-arching imperative of all parties involved in the Faulkner Collins relocation dispute must be the preservation of local jobs. At a time of economic recession it would be unconscionable for 50 local people to be put on the dole queue as a result of the actions of NZ Transport Agency”, says Roskill Community Voice member of the Puketapapa Local Board Michael Wood.

“In our community of Mt Roskill we simply cannot afford for this many people, and their families, to be thrown on the economic scrap-heap because of this issue. The employees in this business are often the main bread winners in their family, and with unemployment high they will face an uncertain future without these jobs.  The effect of the business going under would be devastating for them”, continues Julie Fairey, another Roskill Community Voice member of the Board.

“The property is being acquired by NZTA under the Public Works Act. We believe that this places an onus on the NZTA to behave in a way that is of assistance, rather than making demands and threatening jobs. While there are commercial matters to be discussed between the parties, we believe that it would be utterly unacceptable for the actions of a public body to result in the closure of the business and the loss of fifty jobs”, continues Wood.

“This is a very rough time for these workers and their families, and we hope the morning tea we supplied today will have brightened their day a little.  We pledge to do what we can to assist in ensuring that an outcome is reached that preserves their positions. We will also be consulting with our fellow Local Board members to see if there are steps we can take to help resolve the situation”, continues Fairey.

“We urge all of the parties to work out a solution that keeps the business and jobs intact. The actions of a state agency should not lead to a loss of jobs and the government should step in if needs be”, concludes Wood.

Threat to 50 local jobs at Faulkner Collins factory

Faulkner Collins is a wire manufacturer with a factory on Stoddard Rd in Wesley.  They are currently facing difficulties relocating the business, which needs to move as their land has been compulsorily acquired for transport needs by NZTA.  A media statement from the union representing the workers, the EPMU, provides background information here.

Media coverage:
One News - Auckland company fights eviction by NZTA - 10th Nov 2010
Radio New Zealand - Transport Agency seeks to resolve rent arrears issue - 11th Nov 2010