No E Tu does not have 150,000 members in Auckland

Stuff reports:

Wood, a former Labour MP and Minister for Auckland, told councillors it was important that the union got to have a say in how a Time of Use Charge would look, as it has 150,000 members in the city and for lower paid workers it will be tough for them to pay for the new cost.

It isn’t clear if Wood said there are 150,000 E Tu members in Auckland, or if Stuff misreported him. But weeks later the story has not been corrected.

Unions are meant to report their membership annually the the Registrar of Unions. Of interest, is around 1 in 3 unions are in breach of this legal obligation – including E Tu. But their annual report does state their membership to be around 47,000 so their Auckland membership is probably 15,000 or so.