Yesterday’s report back from the Commerce Commission into Aotearoa’s supermarket duopoly of Countdown and Foodstuffs may have stopped short of recommending a breakup of the brands, but it has exposed important opportunities for reform that would enable excessive profits to be curbed, power to be returned to workers, and lower grocery bills for all - and Fair Pay Agreements could be the solution, FIRST Union said today.

"In a way, the report is a missed opportunity," said Ed Miller, FIRST Union Research and Policy Analyst. "But in breaking down the issues caused by a powerful duopoly, the Commission has offered a pathway for reform with our focus on workers as well as consumers."

"Importantly, the report confirms that the Foodstuffs franchise model is effectively a fiction designed to devolve the bargaining power of workers by creating individual Collective Agreements at every store rather than by a single negotiation, as in Countdown’s case."

"They have also identified that the market power of the duopoly diminishes returns to suppliers, which in turn undermines those workers’ ability to negotiate good wages and conditions."

"Fair Pay Agreements - a national agreement that would cover all workers in a given profession - would provide that single mechanism to deal with bargaining at the level of workforces rather than individual stores or businesses, and that would mean an opportunity to resist the overreach of two powerful brands."

"We strongly support the recommendation of a collective bargaining mechanism for suppliers and believe it should work in tandem with collective bargaining for the people who work for those suppliers."

"The report also identifies a need for good faith dealings across the industry, and that should extend to workers, who would benefit hugely from a strong collective voice on matters that affect them - and again, that supports the need for a Fair Pay Agreement."

"Inflated grocery bills hurt us all - including the people who work in supermarkets and for their suppliers - and the duopoly generates $430 million in excess profits every year, according to the Commerce Commission’s report."

"Having a means to redirect that excessive profit back into workers pockets would mean an average wage increase of over $6500 per year for everyone working in supermarkets, and this would go some way to addressing relatively low pay in the sector."

"It’s clear that executives have been making hay while the sun shines, and we need both a mechanism for returning that profit to workers as well as a disincentive to continue inflating the prices of goods in our supermarkets."

"Fair Pay Agreements could be the answer."

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