Category: Workers in Struggle

By Mike Kay
The comments made by the head of the Employers and Manufacturers Association that pay discrimination against women was justified because they may take sick days when they have their period has rightly provoked widespread outrage. It seems hard to believe that Alisdair Thompson thought he could get away with spouting such crap. But the fact is that he has the arrogance born of someone who has been getting his own way for years. His comments have to be seen against the sustained attack on the working class for a generation. Even under the so-called “worker-friendly” Labour led government of Helen Clark, inequality spiralled and union membership stagnated.
Over its term of office, the National/ ACT/ Māori Party coalition government has instigated a number of anti-worker laws. The 90 day “sack at will” law was initially brought in for the benefit of businesses employing 20 or fewer staff. That law has now been extended to be available to all employers. Other negative changes for workers include the right of an employer to demand a sick note after a single day’s absence without reason, restrictions on union access to the workplace and the removal of reinstatement as the primary remedy for unfair dismissal. Tau Henare’s privatemember’s bill on Secret Ballots for Strikes is currently before select committee. All these assaults have gone hand in hand with attacks on beneficiary rights, thus squeezing the working class at both ends – both in and out of work.
Continue reading “Alisdair Thompson and the Anti-Worker Laws”

The May Issue of The Spark carried a story about a dispute involving horticulture workers at Southern Paprika Ltd in Warkworth. The owner of the Company has since made comments directed at the Union at a seminar organised by the Kiribati Protestant Church. Hamish Alexander is reported as saying:
“One family got upset with us and decided to bring the union in, and as a company I can tell you that this has put a wall between me and my Kiribati people, and it’s a real problem.”
The Union Secretary, Ray Bianchi, has replied with the advice:
“Exercise your legal right and join the Union and ensure you get protection from manipulative Employers. Unionised Workers are treated better than non-Unionised and predominantly earn more.”

Workers say KFC’s infamous Double Down – a “bunless burger” consisting of chicken fillets, bacon, cheese and a special sauce – is increasing their workload.
In Wellington alone, KFC sales increased 100% on the first day of the new promotion, and the product sold out for the first two days running. However, crew-members say the increased productivity has not paid off. Throughout the country there have been instances of customer abuse resulting from sold out product.
“The company’s making massive profits but it’s just making our lives harder,” KFC cook and Workers Party member Ian Anderson says.
Because of the hugely increased demand, many workers are giving up their breaks or working on their day off. “I’m used to being overworked and underpaid,” Ian says, “But when the work-load goes up the poverty wages stay the same.”
“The burger’s also not that amazing.”

Unite has launched a Facebook campaign for Pat Bidois, a union delegate at St Georges Language School who was unfairly dismissed. The page reads:

Management have been trying to get rid of Pat for years as she is an effective and passionate defender of workers rights on her site.

Continue reading “Unite starts Facebook campaign against unfair sacking”

Alastair Reith

Pizza Hut workers in Dunedin have battled for their rights against the bosses and won.

Dunedin’s two Pizza Hut stores were recently sold to new bosses. Upon taking ownership of the stores, the new bosses tried to force all the workers to sign new, individual contracts with inferior terms and conditions and a 90 day fire at will probationary period. This would be laughable if it wasn’t so outrageous – at the North D store the workers have been there for between two and eight years, and without a doubt know the job much better than their new employers!

What the manager clearly didn’t take into account was that these workers are union members. Both sites are Unite Union strongholds – the workers are staunch, aware of their rights, and aware of both the need to fight back and the power they have when they do so. All the workers refused to sign the new contracts, and today they walked off the job in protest.

Continue reading “Victory for Dunedin Pizza Hut workers”

Call centre staff who are members of Unite Union took strike action yesterday morning against their employer Salmat (also known as
Salesforce). Approximately 40 members took part in the action as part of the effort to achieve what will be their first pay rise in three
years. The worksite is located at the corporate complex on 666 Great South Road in Penrose, Auckland. With its objective of rebuilding amongst the vast unorganised sections of the working class, Unite has been present on the site for over two years.
Salmat is an outsource operation that holds contracts with major companies, one being Vodafone, for which Salmat has a contract for
handling both customer and business calls. In terms of the modern workplace it’s a success to have a strong union membership in an outsource operation.
Speaking from the picket line, Ross Asiata, one of Unite’s delegates at the workplace stated to media “Everything else around us increases, GST etc, but our pay rise (read ‘pay rate’) stays the same. As you can see behind me that’s the staff that are in the same boat as me, trying to make a point to management and to all those others that are out there struggling with the same thing”.