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Look at the groundLOOK at the ground
remember your shuffling feet,
a picket line a street
a picket line a street shuffling feet
remember where you were
Now look at each other, feel the pride
shake a hand
and look to the sky
and understand
where you are
where you'll be, at your time of death
And when you see the boss
look him in the eye
and know
you'll never have to flinch,
such is victory
I WAS THERE and thus McCahon I AM
I could die gloriously TODAY
Such is our VICTORY
— “I was there” by GD Smith (a locked out Progressive Enterprises worker)
For this year’s annual Fred Evans memorial lecture, we will be marking the 20th anniversary of one of the most significant industrial disputes in Aotearoa New Zealand’s recent history—the 2006 Progressive Enterprises lockout.
During the spring of 2006, following a takeover by Australian-owned Woolworths the year prior, supermarket company Progressive Enterprises locked out over 500 unionised distribution centre workers striking for better pay and conditions across sites in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Christchurch.
With the gates shut to striking workers for nearly a month (a total of 28 days), the lockout was a coordinated effort by the company to undermine their unions (National Distribution Union and EMPU) and claims for a national collective agreement, a decent wage increase, and pay parity for roles that had been disestablished in 2003 and reinstated on lower rates.
Workers did not take the company’s bullying tactics lying down. There was a coordinated campaign with around-the-clock and ‘flying’ pickets that kept the pressure on. And unions across Aotearoa and overseas rallied in support of the striking workers sharing messages of solidarity, sending donations (as did the US Teamsters Union, Maritime Union of Australia, and others), and showing up on pickets.
To discuss how workers and the union fought back, the contested histories of the dispute, and its relevance to the supermarket competition debate today, we will hear from former officials of the Nation Distribution Union, Paul Watson and Joe Hendren.
This event is free to attend and all are welcome.
About the speakers:
Paul Watson started as a union official in 1983 working as an Organiser for the Canterbury Westland Nelson and Marlborough Clothing Trades Union when apparel was mostly all made in Aotearoa. He became Secretary of that Union in 1989 and in the late 1990s Union members voted overwhelmingly to join the NDU (National Distribution Union). From then until his retirement in February last year, Paul held senior elected leadership roles in the NDU, FIRST Union, and Workers First representing members at elected governance and national leadership positions most notably as South Island Regional Secretary for over 25 years. He's been a lead advocate of numerous significant industry bargaining. He led and settled the retail bargaining against Progressive Enterprises at the time of the Lockout in 2006, which opened up dialogue that eventually led to the lockout being lifted.
Joe Hendren is a researcher and educator with interests in political economy, business-government relations, peace, and labour history. He holds a PhD from the University of Auckland (2022) and has taught courses on international business, management, and industrial relations. His doctoral thesis examined the influence of civil society organisations on economic debates in New Zealand—work he expanded in a 2026 article in the New Zealand Journal of History. As a philosophy student at the University of Canterbury, he worked as a checkout operator at Countdown South City. He spent 11 years as the union researcher for the National Distribution Union (now Workers First Union); his first day on the job coincided with the beginning of the 2006 Progressive Enterprises lockout. He writes a Substack at https://joehendren.substack.com.
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Event venue
Space Academy, 371 St Asaph Street,Christchurch, New Zealand
Tickets
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