With the Fair Pay Agreements Bill passing on October 26, employers and employees will be able to collectively bargain industry-wide from December 1. The news is welcomed by FIRST Union for members of the supermarket and bus sectors in particular.
"FPAs pave the way for a rebuild of some of our most critically undervalued industries and complement our wider goals of reducing inequality, upskilling New Zealand workers, reducing regional wage disparities and returning a fairer share of company profits to the workers who created them,” said Louisa Jones, FIRST Union Assistant General Secretary.
"Some supermarket workers have never had the chance to bargain with their employer and negotiate a Collective Agreement, and it’s meant big disparities in wages and conditions between supermarkets, even within the same towns. I’m excited - not for my own personal gain but for the industry as a whole. People will have the opportunity to join robust unions for the first time and fairly bargain for better wages and conditions in their area,” said Jackie Holt, Countdown worker from Putaruru and FIRST Union delegate.
"Many brands have made billions from what they have considered ‘cheap New Zealand labour’ and sent almost all of that profit offshore - FPAs, while not a total solution to the problem, will return some of that wealth to our communities,” said Jones.
