Alert: Reporting back
Kia ora Woolworths folks,
After 2 further days of negotiations between Woolworths and your Workers First bargaining team, we remain some distance apart from the company.
The key sticking points with the proposed deal we are negotiating are:
Money – the pay offer on the table is still 3.5% for year one and 2.8% for year two. We feel is this not acceptable, particularly in the second year – given we have no idea what the rate of inflation will be.
Clawbacks (reductions to existing conditions) – a clawback on the entitlements of night-fill workers is just unfair. Changing the title of a job from ‘night-fill’ to ‘major fill’ should not mean you lose your entitlements!
Leave reductions – we want a guarantee from the company that, if the current government are returned in November, their recent law changes to the way leave is paid out will not reduce the current leave entitlements for our members, and we need the company to agree to that. If they don’t agree to that, it seems pretty clear that people will lose some of their leave entitlements.
What’s next
Over the next six weeks, union organisers will be holding ‘report-back’ meetings with all Woolworths members around the country. We will discuss the deal that’s on the table, explain the issue with leave reductions due to the law change, and take a ballot (a vote) for future strike actions. Once that’s done, we will have a clear picture of where you all stand on this proposed deal and we will establish whether or not there is a mandate for industrial action.
We will be in touch very soon with details on those report-back meetings.
Thanks again to our incredible bargaining team for the considerable work they have put into these negotiations on behalf of our 10,000 Woolworths union members.
In solidarity,
Rudd Hughes