"A Long Fight" - Woolworths Supermarket Workers Ratify New Wage Agreement

Over 10,000 FIRST Union members at Woolworths have ratified a new Collective Agreement (CA) after almost six months of "difficult" negotiations that have included the first full withdrawal of labour by the supermarket chain’s retail workers following an escalating campaign of strike actions.

"I want to thank our bargaining team of Woolworths delegates and union organisers for their many hours of hard work at the negotiating table," said Rudd Hughes, FIRST Union National Secretary for Retail.

"Their patience, creativity and solidarity during industrial actions have significantly improved the company’s initially poor offer and made meaningful steps forward with this new agreement. It was far from easy, but we have reached an agreement supported by a majority of members."

Highlights of the new agreement include includes wage increases of approximately 6.8% over the two years of the term (3.3%/3.5%), the establishment of a quarterly working group that includes staff Health and Safety representatives to deal with safe staffing levels in stores, a one-off payment for all workers before Christmas, and early backpay for union members.

"Crucially, we have also avoided a series of Woolworths’ proposed reductions to existing conditions in the new agreement, involving changes to night-fill earnings and the removal of fixed-term and casual workers from our coverage," said Mr Hughes.

Michelle McKenzie, a Woolworths duty supervisor and member of the FIRST Union bargaining team, said it had been a difficult series of negotiations that required more than twenty days at the bargaining table, but supermarket works had stayed united throughout.

"Taking our first national walkout together was a huge moment for our team," said Ms McKenzie. "It was a big ask for everyone and quite scary for some, but it ended up being very positive and we got a lot of support from customers."

"We had never walked off the floor before, but it was absolutely necessary to let people know about some of the issues we’re dealing with in stores like understaffing and burnout."

"I’m proud that we’ve been able to secure a commitment to work together with the company on safe staffing levels, because it remains a major issue in supermarkets, and I’m pleased with what we’ve achieved."

Partial strike actions by supermarket workers began in July after the union bargaining team rejected an unacceptable offer from the company and assessed that negotiations were no longer productive. Workers voted for a media and social media strike and wore strike stickers for a week in August in an attempt to build public awareness of low pay rates and unsafe staffing levels, with specified stores around the country also handing out " receipts" with shoppers’ purchases. A " Woolworths walkout" took place in September, with thousands of workers withdrawing their labour for two hours across the country and a central rally of hundreds held outside the company’s store in Ponsonby, Auckland.

Rudd Hughes said that while he was pleased that pay negotiations had been completed before Christmas so that supermarket workers had certainty for the year ahead, the new agreement did not establish a minimum living wage or penalty rates for nights and weekends and had not re-established Woolworths as the wage leader for supermarket workers.

"Significant pressure has been placed on Woolworths workers and union organisers during these six months of negotiations," said Mr Hughes. "Woolworths did not want us to query their profitability or the relative financial impact of their $400m rebrand, and we lost many hours at the bargaining table before meaningful negotiations began."

"It took an escalating course of industrial action to let the company know workers were serious about better pay and safer staffing, and I’m proud of our members’ courage and belief."

"We have significant work to do over the next two years and will engage constructively with Woolworths over safe staffing levels while building union density in supermarkets and preparing for the next agreement in 2026."

© Scoop Media