Along the Line: 100 Years of Post Office Unionism

315 pages. cover slight wear, text & marking on ffepRight from the beginning of European settlement New Zealand's need for reliable communications in a thinly populated country meant that the Post Office quickly established itself as an important department of state. The first Post Office e mployee was appointed in 1840. But in those early days Post Office staff worked long hours, earned very low pay and were constantly under the eye of a restricti ve and authoritarian employer. Eventually the workers saw that they must join to gether is they were to improve their conditions, and so began the story of what we now know as the Post Office Union . For much of its history the Post Office Union existed in a relatively stable environment; there were always battles to fight but the Post Office itself continued to function as it always had. But the 1984 Lange government changed all that. The destruction of the Post Office on 1 April 1987 and the creation of New Zealand Post, Telecom and Post Bank meant hu ge challenges for the union as it fought for those whose jobls were lost or mass ively altered. Along the line tells the story of the Post Office Union from 18 90 to the present day . -- Back cover.…