The Warehouse Worker #8, Warehouse Agenda Exposed

This is the newsletter for the National Distribution Union at The Warehouse and Warehouse Stationery. Check out our campaign website at www.warehouseworker.org.nz (You can subscribe and unsubscribe to this newsletter from the front page of this website)

In this issue:
* Warehouse agenda exposed
* Kaikohe workers win extra staff
* Poor quality Warehouse spies
* In brief

Download this newsletter as a full-colour printable A4 PDF newsletter here:
http://warehouseworker.org.nz/files/TheWarehouseWorker8web.pdf

Warehouse agenda exposed

The NDU met with The Warehouse on the 2nd and 3rd of September to bargaining a new collective agreement. Instead of sensibly discussing issues raised and voted on by workers across the country, the company simply outlined its wish-list for workers for the next four years. If you think Project Invigorate was bad, imagine if the company could do Project Invigorate every day.

The Warehouse wants to:

• Remove the words “fair and consistent terms and conditions” from your employment agreement
• Continue pay-discrimination against temporary and casual workers
• Change and increase your hours and days at any time, as many times as they like, with little or no notice (and even worse for Store Development)
• Lock you into another long deal (4 ½ years) with no real wage increase (CPI only), no compensation for your doubled workload and they want to be able to squeeze more profit out of you in the future at any time
• Remove the principle of first on, last off during redundancies
• Take away or reduce a dozen other existing benefits including the right to be with your family on a public holiday and remove overtime pay rates when working over 10 hours in a day
• Take away other terms and conditions at any time without asking workers even what they think,
• Refuse Team Leaders the right to bargain collectively.

When asked why they wanted the above claw backs the company said it was “Future Proofing”. (You’ll find that particular phrase in The Warehouse dictionary next to “The Budget” and “Moving Forward”.)

You can do something about it

This is the company’s dream, it’s not a fact. The Warehouse has a history of taking things off workers, but this only happened because the company’s agenda has never been challenged. The company expects workers to just accept whatever the company wants. But the NDU is different. We’re not just here to get a better deal, we are here to protect what we’ve already got. The more members we have, the more say and more pay we have. We’ll be holding country-wide meetings to discuss the company’s plans and the their response to our claims after our next bargaining meeting on the 17th of September.

Kaikohe workers win extra staff

Understaffing is a part of “The Warehouse Way”, but no store feels it worse than Kaikohe.
Project Invigorate reduced staff from 42 to 18.
Union members raised concerns about stress levels, ran health and safety meetings and met with regional managers, but got no where.
It wasn’t until store delegate Sheryl was in the local newspaper that the store got four more staff members.
“It was an eye opener for the company. We didn’t just complain, we did something about it and spoke to the media.”
Sheryl says the next step is to make the new team members permanent. Workers are looking forward to the union’s bargaining report back on workloads.
There is still a lot to do. When the union called Sheryl to write this story three team members had called in sick, but none had been replaced.

Poor quality Warehouse spies

The Warehouse reported in it’s latest Invigorate Update that NDU organiser Bill Bradford had denied an allegation that he talked about a Kaikohe Warehouse worker going to mediation.
Given that no Kaikohe workers went to mediation and Bill has been at every one, it is clear that the quality of company spies attending union meetings is very low.
The union has recommended that The Warehouse recalls it’s faulty stock and that no bonus be paid out to spies for failing to meet their performance requirements.

In brief

Project Invigorate comes to Region 1 and 3

■ Project Invigorate is winding its way into its final phase with delegates in region 1 and 3 having received training in how to assist team members deal with it at well attended training sessions in Dunedin and Wellington.Launch meetings have been held in both regions and blue line rosters will be presented from September 16 - 20. The union will have organisers present at as many of these meetings as possible.

http://warehouseworker.org.nz/files/WhatIsProjectInvigorate.pdf

Union stops naming and shaming

■ The union has stopped the company practice of naming and shaming checkout operators. Union members from Hawera and other stores contacted the union saying managers were posting till balances with a list of staff on the till on notice boards. This is unacceptable bullying. If this practice continues in your store, please contact the union.