Twenty-year dream becomes a reality

After a 25-year engagement Janet Andrew was finally able to afford a wedding and honeymoon, thanks in part to a wage rise negotiated by her union.

The Farmers’ delegate, who is a lingerie consultant at the company’s New Lynn store, married her partner Craig on her birthday last October and was able to go on her long awaited honeymoon.

Daughter Sarah, an NDU member at the Body Shop, gave her mother away at the Westlynn gardens in New Lynn, Auckland.

“We’ve been waiting 25 years for a wedding and honeymoon that we previously couldn’t afford,” says Janet.

“It’s been a big celebration to get married - it would have been impossible without my partner’s new job as a sales executive and the union pay rise.”

Partner Craig shared picket-lines with the late Bill Andersen, who was the union president at the time, as a tanker-driver 30 years ago.

The newlyweds spent their honeymoon driving around the South Island, staying at Queenstown, Lake Wanaka and Tekapo.

“It was absolutely beautiful. If I could go back, I’d be back there tomorrow,” says Janet.

Her latest pay rise is the biggest workers have ever got in her 20 years with the company.

“It has built confidence in the union and staff feedback has been good,” she says.

But there is still a long way to go to catch up with wage cuts in the ‘90s and the ever increasing cost of living.