Unite Union is spearheading a new campaign for a decent hike in the minimum wage. The campaign will take to the streets, with a petition for a referendum being the main tool used by activists to start discussions with workers about how we can raise wages and win control in our workplaces.

 The petition calls for the minimum wage to be raised to $15 immediately, and then in steps over the next three years until it reaches two-thirds of the average wage.

 “These steps will increase purchasing power in the economy by directing help to those who need it most,” says Unite’s Mike Treen. “The economic crisis facing the world is the toxic product of insatiable greed at the top and the free-market policies of governments that removed all controls. The end result is a skewing of income and wealth so that the rich got richer and the poor fell off the edge.”

 Look out for the campaign coming soon to a neighbourhood near you!

-Daphna Whitmore
The Spark February 2009

 
After a series of strikes, Unite union members at McDonald’s restaurants have a new collective agreement with improved wages and conditions. Their actions included 50 strikes in dozens of stores from Whangarei to Hamilton and a protest outside the company’s national conference. There was a real fighting spirit at several stores, and the vote to settle was only passed by a narrow majority.

Improvements won include a one-off bonus payment, and significant pay rises for team leaders and supervisors. Staff are to have more secure hours, which was one of the union’s key claims. When additional work hours are available they will be offered to existing staff, instead of more part-time or casualised positions being created.

While the agreement has been settled, the campaign is not over. The starting rates for frontline staff are linked to the minimum wage. So if the minimum wage, which is currently $12 an hour, goes up in March, then so too will their wages. Unite is campaigning for the minimum wage to go up by a dollar an hour every year until it reaches $15.

Ten days of strike action has paid off for Masport Foundry workers who have won an improved pay offer as well as enhancements to overtime rates.

As previously reported on this blog, the workers had rejected a 3% pay offer that excluded allowances. During their picket, they were supported by other unionists and activists from the Workers Party. Yesterday, they returned to work having won a deal that included a pay increase of 4% + 1% over fifteen months. The union members commented that as important as the result itself, was the overwhelming feeling of unity that they have built up over the days on the picket line.