Press Release – FIRST Union
Todays report from the Commerce Commission showing the Countdown/Foodstuffs duopoly is unduly powerful and profitable demonstrates to New Zealanders how their spending is not reflected in increases to Foodstuffs workers wages and conditions, which …
Today’s report from the Commerce Commission showing the Countdown/Foodstuffs duopoly is unduly powerful and profitable demonstrates to New Zealanders how their spending is not reflected in increases to Foodstuffs workers’ wages and conditions, which remain relatively low and necessitate contentious bargaining and strike action despite the employer making considerable profit, FIRST Union said today.
FIRST Union is the union for supermarket workers at both chains. Negotiations with Countdown are done by a single national Collective Agreement, which is due for renewal in June 2022. Foodstuffs stores like Pak’n’Save and New World are owned and operated by individual managers across the country and necessitate separate negotiations store by store. Recently, there have been strike actions at more than three Foodstuffs stores as workers seek a base living wage. Furthermore, some Foodstuffs stores in South Island have refused to bargain on wages entirely.