Farmers retail receives an ‘F’ for performance from staff
Farmers retail workers have long been subject to an unfair performance pay system and have decided it’s time to grade their employer.
They agreed on an F-rating for performance over Farmers’ refusal to pay the Living Wage and the company’s faulty performance pay system that keeps wages down.
Workers have voted to take action across the country over the next two weeks to demonstrate to customers why their employer deserves an F.
The various actions kick off today (Wednesday 22/05/19) from 10.30am with a partial action of a uniform strike in some stores. Staff will wear an ‘F for Farmers: Farmers Workers Deserve a Living Wage’ sticker on their shirt in reference to the company’s unfair performance pay system and unliveable wages.
Stores taking part in this partial strike action include Henderson, St Lukes, NorthWest and LynnMall in Auckland, Paraparaumu and Dunedin. There are many more actions to come over the next two weeks.
Retail, Finance and
Commerce Divisional Secretary Tali Williams says Farmers’
pay rates should be a source of embarrassment to a company
that prides itself on family values.
“Eighty
per cent of Farmers workers are on less than the Living
Wage. Minimum wages are not enough to live on. Farmers is
well behind other major retailers with its pay rates.
What’s worse is that Farmers is one of the only major
retailers with a performance pay system that actively keeps
wages down.”
Ms Williams says it’s time
Farmers recognised what workers and companies signed up to
the Worth It campaign are all about.
“The strike action staff are taking, along
with wearing t-shirts and stickers that call for liveable
wages will raise awareness of these issues. Farmers needs to
listen to their own family values and return to the
bargaining table with a Living Wage for workers and their
families.”
This action follows strike action taken at Farmers last year, more coverage can be found here.