NZ supermaket workers vs Woolworths Oz Capos : Melbourne Indymedia

About the campaign

COMPANIES

Who owns our supermarkets and how much money do they make?

New Zealand’s supermarket industry is a ‘duopoly’ of two huge companies – the Foodstuffs group and Progressive Enterprises.

Progressive (Woolworths, Countdown and Foodtown) control 44% of the market and has recently been bought by Woolworths Australia.

Foodstuffs (Pak N Save, 4 Square and New World) has about 56% of the market. Each Pak n Save, New World and 4 Square is owned by a different employer, and those employers together own the wholesale businesses and the house brand, "Pam’s"

The two chains had sales of more than $10 billion between them last year.

Foodstuffs is New Zealand’s fifth biggest company and its profits rose by 7.8% last year. In South Island Foodstuffs, 23 staff earned $100,000 plus last year and one earned over $660,000. In Auckland, 69 staff earned more than $100,000, and the highest paid person only had $550,000 to get by on!

Woolworths Australia is a gigantic company (and the third largest Australian company and biggest retailer Australasia) had a turnover of $A32 billion last year (excluding Progressive Enterprises) and recently announced a 24.3% increase in profits of $1.2 billion dollars (A$1.1 billion). The company expects sales to increase by 8-12% next year.

The CEO of Woolworths Australia, Roger Corbett, takes home $A8.5 million a year – 340 times more than a full time checkout operator.

Supermarkets disproportionately employ migrants, pacific islanders, maori, youth and women who are the lowest earning workers in New Zealand. Compare this with the all white Central Foodstuffs board.

CUSTOMERS

How much do they charge their customers?

Product

Australia ($NZ)

NZ

Harris Coffee

$6.71

$7.17

Nescafe Gold 100

$9.28

$9.67

Kelloggs Just Right

$6.08

$7.20

Signature Range peaches in syrup

$1.55

$1.89

Signature Range Olive Oil 500ml

$4.33

$5.40

Milk 2 lt standard

$2.88

$3.25

Panadol 24/20

$3.65

$3.93

Totals

$34.48

$38.51

(Sourced from Woolworths online shopping in NZ and Australia)

One argument that the Australian owners of Progessive Enterprises make is that they can’t pay their workers as much as their Australian workers because their costs and the cost of living are higher there. But any kiwi who has crossed the ditch or has family living in Australia know this is not the case.

You only have to compare the prices of some basic items sold by Woolworths on both sides of the Tasman to see that not only do their Aussie staff get paid more, but their customers get charged less.

With food prices skyrocketing, those on low and minimum wages are hit hardest.

SUPPLIERS

What about the suppliers?

Suppliers to both Foodstuffs and Progressive have been raising concerns recently about the pressure on them to cut their selling price to these companies.

The consolidation of supermarkets into two companies has increased their control of the food supply chain which allows them to pressure suppliers to depress their prices.

One concern suppliers have is the requirement to provide enough product for both NZ and Australia which could put small suppliers out of business.

When you think about how much of your family income you spend at the supermarket – let’s say 15% - and you multiply that by all households – you can begin to imagine what gigantic businesses supermarkets are. We spend over $11 billion at the checkout each year. That means nearly $1 in every $10 spent by individuals, government and businesses each year is spent at the supermarket

WORKERS

How much do they pay their workers?

Company

Shop Assistant Adult Rate

Youth Rate

Union membership

Woolworths Australia

$15.26-$16.06 (+ penal rates and overtime)

$6.10-$14.45 (+ penal rates and overtime)

80%

Progressive (New Zealand branch of Woolworths Australia)

$11.11-$12.38

$6.25-$8.20

21% and rising

Pak N Save

$10.25+

$6.25-$8.20

Less than 3%

Between 2001 and 2005 wages increased more slowly in wholesale and retail jobs than the average for all jobs. This means that already low-paid supermarket workers have fallen further behind other workers. Over this four year period, overall wages had risen by around ten percent. But in the retail and wholesale trade sector the increase was only around eight percent, meaning a yearly increase of only two percent. Because the increases were below inflation it meant we had been earning less every year.

Until last year.

Our campaign at Woolworths, Countdown and Foodtown last year that won us a 60 cents an hour pay rise was the biggest pay catch up we’ve had since the 1990’s when the Employment Contracts Act dragged supermarket wages way down.

But there is still a long way to go. A significant proportion of supermarket wages losses came from the removal of penal rates - which most young workers haven’t even heard of. All New Zealand supermarkets are still paying youth rates and it’s time they stopped.

PROGRESSIVE DISTRIBUTION WORKERS

How do they treat their distribution workers?

500 NDU and EPMU members at Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch Distribution Centres supplying Countdown, Foodtown and Woolworths supermarkets have been locked out by their Australian-owned employer, Progressive Enterprises (owned by Woolworths Australia) until they agree to abandon their claim for a national collective agreement.

• The lockout follows the indefinite suspension of workers after commencing a 48 hour strike.

• Workers are claiming an 8% wage increase and allowance parity between the four distribution centres.

• Christchurch workers earn $1.80-$2.00 less p/hr than Palmerston North workers with Auckland workers earn 80c-$1 less p/hr.

• The differences in allowances resulted from Progressive closing the Auckland and Christchurch Woolworths distribution centres in 2003 and rehiring the redundant workers on worse conditions.

• These closures ended the Woolworths National Agreement.

• Palmerston North retained their higher pay and allowances as the company could not find another location for a new distribution centre and therefore could not legally rehire workers on lower rates.

• The NDU represent 98% of Progressive Supply Chain distribution workers with the EPMU, 80% of Progressive’s meat processing workers with the Meat Workers Union and 25% of Progressive supermarket workers.

• Woolworths Australia is the largest retailer in Australasia and recently announced a 24.3% increase in profits of $1.2 billion dollars (A$1.1 billion) and expects sales to increase by 8-12% next year.

• Australian distribution, meat processing and supermarket workers earn up to 35% more than their kiwi co-workers (who do the same job) despite food prices being generally cheaper in Australia.

We are calling on customers and communities to support the locked our workers. Donations can be made to the National Distribution Union at the BNZ account: 02-0200-0217968-00 with the reference “Lock Out”.

PROGRESSIVE MEAT PROCESSORS

How much do they pay their meat processing workers?

The Meat Workers union is seeking a 16 month contract with a 12% pay rise which would take workers up to $15.50 an hour in a first step towards pay parity with other workers in the industry.

Progressive want to treat our member’s as though they are supermarket workers and have used this argument to justify paying them the same low wages that they pay their supermarket workers.

The meat processors only earn an average of $13.73 an hour - including an incentive bonus - despite doing the same job and being as productive as other workers in the meat industry who are earning between $18 and $30 an hour.

It is indicative of how the company treats its workers when it took them 100 days to respond to the union’s initiation of bargaining, and only after workers threatened a strike ballot. (Foodstuffs, who own Pak ‘n Save, sourced their meat from companies paying the standard rate.)

The company's final offer was a 3.5% pay rise in the first year and 3% in the second year, despite the fact that the union had dropped additional claims such as overtime, weekend rates and piece-rates for production workers.

Butchers who had worked in Progressive supermarkets for as long as 20 years have recently been made redundant in Auckland to make way for Progressive’s centralised meat factory.

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Port and maritime workers could support strike
Newsroom.co.nz agency story

Port and maritime workers are threatening to stop processing Progressive Enterprise cargo in support of the locked out staff of the supermarket operator.

The unions representing the workers say if the dispute is not resolved, they will review how Progressive cargo coming into New Zealand ports is dealt with.

The Maritime Union says the distribution workers are poorly paid and the company is using bullying tactics by refusing to give them an increase and locking them out of work.

It says officials have been in discussions about solidarity actions with unions in Australia.

And the Rail and Maritime Transport Union says Progressive Enterprises should rethink its position before it does permanent damage to its brand and reputation.

In a later statement, Progressive Enterprises said most of its goods were imported by its suppliers and it would regard any such action as 'irresponsible.'

'The shipments are consolidated for all customers in New Zealand, not just our supermarkets. The Maritime Union's proposed action would therefore impact on a huge number of other retailers in this country. We believe this action would be unlawful, but that issue would need to addressed by the suppliers concerne,' the statement said.

Meanwhile the National Distribution Union says it will make a formal complaint over the way police arrested nine people on one of its picketlines yesterday.

The union officials and members claim a truck driver drove over their line outside a facility owned by Toll Logistics in Mangere East.

They say he then started swinging a metal bar but the police say the driver felt threatened.

The nine are now facing a variety of charges including obstructing the road, disorderly behaviour and disrupting the police.

The union believes the police were being unfair and overreacted.

Additional material and links have been added to this story by NBR staff.

(C)NewsRoom.co.nz

Community Rallies in Support of Locked Out Workers

Local communities in Mangere, Napier and Palmerston North will rally in support of locked out families at 12 noon today, says the National Distribution Union.

National Secretary Laila Harré said that local communities will rally at 12 noon today at the Mangere Town Centre, the Palmerston North town square and outside of the Napier Woolworths on Carlyle St.

Ms Harré said that the rally in Auckland will go ahead despite the rain and current negotiations to use the Mangere Town Hall being unsuccesful despite the help of a local councellor.

Some workers will be joining a short hikoi from the 80 Favona road picket line at 11 o'clock to the Mangere town centre, she said.

Ms Harré said that locked out workers in Auckland and Palmerston North cheered when they were told that 1,500 supporters and workers turned out for the Christchurch rally yesterday. Some had tears in their eyes, she said.

ENDS

• Mangere Town Centre, Auckland, 12 noon. Contact Laila Harre on 021 839 661
• Palmerston North, 12 noon at the town square. Contact Dion Martin on 021 776 029
• Napier, 12 noon outside Napier Woolworths on Carlye st. Contact: Dean Hyde on 021 776 032

An automatic $20 donation can be made at 0900 LOCK OUT (0900 5625 688)

Donations for the locked out workers can also be made out to the National Distribution Union at 02-0200-0217968-00 with the reference "Lock Out".

Contacts
Simon Oosterman 021 922 551 (Media Liaison)
Laila Harré 021 839 661(National Secretary)le St Contact: Dean Hyde on 021 776 032

NZ Workers Band Together Against Aussie Corporate
Friday, 8 September 2006, 4:00 pm
Article: Kevin List
NZ Workers Band Together Against Aussie Corporate

NDU national secretary Laila Harre with locked out supermarket workers Quentin Thompson and Carly Pedersen in the background
*********

The crude use of the power of a corporate against vulnerable workers was how Ross Wilson, the Council of Trade Unions president described the battle between the locked out supermarket workers and their boss Progressive Enterprises – Progressive's parent company is the Australian corporate giant Woolworths.

Mr Wilson and National Distribution Union national secretary Laila Harre told the media that they were engaged in a David And Goliath struggle with the Australian corporate giant and that the tactics of Progressive Enterprises were to starve its New Zealand workers into submission.

Locked out workers Carl Skivington, Darren Johnson and Quentin Thompson now have the not only the entire NZ union movement behind them but also many Australian unions actively and financially supporting their struggle with Progressive Enterprises
*******

This afternoon the unions that have been on the front lines in the battle for a collective agreement - the NDU and the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing union - were joined in their battle against Woolworth Australia's NZ subsidiary Progressive Enterprises by the entire New Zealand union movement.

Donations of money to assist the locked out NZ workers were also coming into union coffers from fellow workers in Australia. At an emergency meeting in Wellington various union delegates from across New Zealand heard how an Australian transport union had already donated $10,000 to assist the Kiwi workers who have been locked out of the workforce for more than two weeks.
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After the NDU took industrial action in late August Progressive Enterprises issued lockout notices to all the striking workers that stopped them from rejoining the workforce until they gave up on their claim for a national collective agreement.

The action taken by Progressive Enterprises was a feature of employer behaviour through the early 1990s but one that had rarely been seen since the late 1990s.according to Mr Wilson

NDU national secretary Laila Harre explained that the NDU was in touch with unions in the United States who had been fighting against US corporate Walmart who - according to Ms Harre - went so far as to close a supermarket where workers had won the right to join a union. Ms Harre also explained to the media that the anti-union Walmart and Woolworths Australia had a management exchange program.

Every single course of action was being explored by the NZCTU according to Mr Wilson.

"I think they should be seriously considering how the impact on their reputation as an employer in NZ is going to impact on their business interests here," warned Ms Harre.

Customers of Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown were also urged by various union delegates to boycott these supermarkets. Earlier this week the Green Party also called for a boycott of supermarkets owned by Progressive Enterprises.

The NZ union movement is prepared to battle it out with Australian company Progressive Enterprises for as long as it takes to win according to todays' media conference
*******

The Maritime Union has swung in behind the locked out workers offering "practical" assistance

"It's just a game for the management who get paid fat salaries - and can afford full page ads - but it is the low paid workers in this battle who are putting themselves on the line to ensure a decent income for their families," said Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson in a press statement.

Mr Hanson was referring to Progressive Enterprises ability to wage a well-funded PR campaign against the locked out workers.

The pay of Woolworths Australian CEO Roger Corbett was alleged to be more than $8 million dollars per annum and the profits from New Zealand supermarkets a big part of the highly profitable Australian company.

Progressive Enterprises today threatened that any action the Maritime Union took to disrupt supplies of goods would be "irresponsible".

" [It would be] a very serious matter for the nation when third parties not involved in industrial action are unlawfully impeded in their rights to go about their daily business. Were this action to proceed we would regard it as irresponsible," said Progressive Enterprises in a press statement.

Quentin Thompson and Carly Pedersen – NZ Communities are being split by the lockout
********

Relations on the frontlines of the picket were causing tension between workers with some of the locked out workers explaining to media that they no longer spoke to (former) friends that had buckled under financial pressure and signed away their right to a collective agreement.

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Listen to the full media conference with Ross Wilson and Laila Harre initially taking questions followed by the locked out workers:

Scoop Audio.Scoop Streaming Audio: Union conference regarding locked out workers and Progressive Enterprises

International pressure to be put on Progressive Enterprises
08 September 2006

National and international unions are set to add their weight to the stalemate between locked out distribution workers and supermarket giant Progressive Enterprises, in the hope of exerting financial pressure on the multi-billion-dollar company.

The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) held a special meeting in Wellington today, hosting representatives of 37 unions representing 350,000 New Zealand union members.

About 600 of Progressive's distribution workers went on strike on August 25 in support of their bid for a national collective agreement.

Progressive said this was non-negotiable and the workers were locked out three days later.

Mediation has failed to find a resolution.

CTU president Ross Wilson said workers from the picket lines in Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch addressed the meeting, speaking of the hardship they were facing after more than two weeks without pay.

Despite the hardline approach taken by Progressive, Mr Wilson said the workers would not give in.
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Two key objectives had emerged from the meeting – the primary one being to raise financial support for the locked out workers.

Mr Wilson said New Zealand union members would all be asked to offer their support, and there were already "big donations" coming in from Australian unions.

Unions from the United States would also be approached.

The second initiative would be to look at what industrial action could be taken both here and overseas to exert financial pressure on Progressive.

The unions would look at the possibility of preventing Progressive products being shipped in to New Zealand from Australia, with the assistance of the Maritime Union and its Australian affiliates.

Other options available through the unions' international affiliates would also be examined, Mr Wilson said.

It was a serious situation, and the unions were resolved to support the workers and prevent them from being "bullied into starvation" by Progressive, owned by Australia's second-largest company, Woolworths Australia.

Mr Wilson acknowledged the difficulty in exerting financial pressure on a business group which recorded a $NZ1.21 billion profit last year, up 24.3 per cent from the previous year.

However, he said there was wide-reaching support and strong resolve to increase pressure on Progressive, and support the workers.

"Never in my whole career as a union official, which is more than 30 years, have I seen such determination," Mr Wilson said.

Meanwhile unionist Andrew Little today challenged all MPs to match or beat a $200 donation to the locked-out worker fund, given by cabinet minister Steve Maharey.

He said Mr Maharey was a man of "conscience and principle" and added politicians from both the left and right had donated funds to picket lines over the years.

He said National MPs could choose to offer their donations anonymously if they preferred.

The delegates at the special meeting in Wellington today agreed all 37 unions would support the claims of the 600 locked out workers, while also backing the actions of Progressive supermarket workers, currently in pay negotiations, and striking members of the NZ Meat Workers Union.

The group condemned the lock out action of Progressive, and acknowledged the support across unions in New Zealand and Australia, and the wider community.

The unions resolved to take "every possible action", industrial or otherwise, to support the National Distribution Union and Engineering, Manufacturing and Printing Union in their efforts to achieve fair settlement of the dispute.

They also resolved to raise funds for the workers; to advise international unions of the principles at stake and ask for their support; and to examine legal options.

Opposition to lockout grows
09 September 2006
By SUE ALLEN

An industrial dispute between locked-out supermarket workers and Australian-owned Progressive Enterprises looks set to escalate to other union workers and across the Tasman.

Yesterday, representatives of 350,000 union workers from 37 unions met in Wellington and agreed to step up efforts to support more than 500 supermarket distribution workers.

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said members had pledged financial support. He did not rule out industrial action spreading to other unions.

"We are going to use every means possible, including industrial means through maritime workers and other workers, to ensure these workers finally get a fair settlement," he said.

National Distribution Union spokeswoman Laila Harre said they had already received donations from Australian unions and pressure was building there for industrial action.

Money had also been sent from the United States. The International Transport Federation is also reported to be launching an appeal in support of workers facing their 16th day without pay.

Ms Harre called on the public to boycott Progressive's Woolworths, Countdown, Foodtown, Supervalue and Fresh Choice stores, ring Progressive's complaints line to voice their views and return supermarket loyalty cards.

Maritime Union general secretary Trevor Hanson said they were already talking to their counterparts in Australia to see what action they could take. A lot of the company's goods are imported from Australia.

"If these employers want to cross borders, we have the right to work internationally as well," Mr Hanson said.

He said the Maritime Union recently blocked some containers at Wellington's port in support of another dispute. Though they had been taken to court, the judge had ruled in their favour.

Progressive managing director Marty Hamnett said any attempt to interfere with goods would be irresponsible, and probably illegal.

Workers from Progressive's distribution centres in Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch were locked out after claiming a single agreement, something the company will not concede.
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A tearful Palmerston North distribution worker, Quentin Thompson, spoke at yesterday's meeting asking unionists for help.

"We don't know how to ask for money, but we need it."

Other workers spoke of the support they had received from the public.

Mr Wilson described the lockout as a case of an overwhelmingly large corporate employer attempting to starve out a group of vulnerable workers.

Progressive was also criticised for bringing Australian "bullying" tactics to New Zealand.

About 1500 locked out workers and supporters staged a public rally in Christchurch yesterday to gather public support.

Other rallies will be held in Auckland, Palmerston North and Napier today.

Meanwhile, talks between Progressive and 4200 in-store supermarket workers went into their second day yesterday.