BARGAINING BONANZA!

Members Having Their Say

BY DAVID BLISS, ASSISTANT SECRETARY

2023 is shaping up to be a huge year for bargaining.

The changes made to the Fair Work Act by the Labor Federal Government late last year have supercharged bargaining this year with most major retailers queuing up to bargain. Bargaining has either commenced or concluded across the following businesses: l Bunnings l Big W l Harris Scarfe l Apple l Costco l The Reject Shop l IKEA l BBQs Galore l Best & Less l Clifford Hallam Healthcare Bargaining is also expected to commence with Woolworths Supermarkets, Coles Supermarkets, Kmart and Super Retail Group in the coming months.

In preparing bargaining strategies for each employer, the Union has surveyed members and consulted Delegates to identify key claims and workers’ priorities.

Members consistently advise that cost of living is the most important issue to address by fighting for decent wage increases which keep pace with inflation, which remains persistently high at 5.6%.

Members also nominate job security, fair rosters and improvements to leave as matters of significance for bargaining.

Fighting For Fair Wages

After almost a decade of wage stagnation under a Liberal Government which kept wages low as a “deliberate design feature”, we are seeing the early signs of wage recovery and workers gaining a fairer share of the economic pie.

The Wage Price Index (WPI) is a price index which measures changes over time in wages and salaries for employee jobs.

The WPI has now recovered to pre-2013 levels and sits at 3.7% p.a. as at March 2023.

Recent Department of Employment and Workplace Relations data (for the December 2022 quarter) shows bargained private sector wages have surged to their highest level of growth in nine years at 3.5% p.a.

The Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review decision, which delivered a 5.75% increase to all minimum award rates, was also a very welcome circuit breaker in an environment where the cost of everyday groceries, energy, rent and mortgages is skyrocketing. This increase applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 July and is also directly linked to many Enterprise Agreements.

Pushing For Better Conditions

The SDA is also prioritising a range of other claims to make members’ working lives better.

Key claims include: l Increasing annual leave to 5 weeks (and 27.5% loading for casuals). l Fairer and more predictable rosters and hours of work which accommodate workers’ family and caring commitments. l Abolishing junior rates for workers under the age of 18 years. l The payment of superannuation contributions on every dollar earned.

This year will be undoubtedly busy for members, Delegates and Officials as we push hard to lock in new Agreements which provide retail, fast food and warehouse workers with better wages and conditions.

I encourage all members to stand up, speak up, encourage your co-workers to actively participate or to join the Union, if they are yet to be part of Australia’s largest private sector Union.

2023 will continue to be busy and exciting as we work together to get our fair share.

I will be proudly voting “Yes” in the upcoming Voice referendum.

As a lifelong trade unionist, I believe in the principles of acknowledgement, respect and consultation.

Every worker and their union deserve to be acknowledged for their contributions to the workplace, respected as individuals and as a collective, and consulted about decisions which affect them. This is and should be uncontroversial.

It means workers have a voice and are heard about matters which affect them at work.

It doesn’t always mean the employer will bend their willingness to make some changes or abandon changes which have a significant impact on their workforce. But it does mean the views of workers are seriously and genuinely considered, often resulting in a better outcome for the workers affected and the employer.

It is for the same reasons I will be proudly voting “Yes” in the upcoming Voice referendum. Our First Nations peoples have lived on this land for over 60,000 years. The first custodians nurtured this country. First Australians were careful with the land and the lives of others.

Connection with land and all generations was of such value that it has come to define the oldest continuous culture in human history as proud, careful and respectful people. White settlement gatecrashed and has been here, uninvited, for a mere 235 years. It took over 200 years to finally acknowledge Australia was not “terra nullius”.

During this time, we inflicted near genocide, the stolen generation and entrenched multigenerational disadvantage for our Indigenous Australian brothers and sisters — poorer health, shorter life expectancy, a lower level of education and employment, suffered greater wage theft, and a higher infant mortality rate.

If you are a male Indigenous Australian, there is a one in six chance you are in prison or have spent time in prison, often with parents and in some cases grandparents.

I’d like to acknowledge the speech of the Hon. Bob Nanva on 22 June 2023 in the NSW Legislative Council for this description of the treatment of our Indigenous brothers and sisters.

There is much we must do to redress the wrongs of the past and to help our fellow Australians.

Acknowledging past wrongs is the first small step.

The next step is all about now and the future. It’s all about respect and consultation.

The Voice doesn’t make First Nations people “more equal than others” in some twisted Orwellian narrative. It doesn’t mean their vote is more important or carries more weight.

It doesn’t mean there will be a “Third Chamber of Parliament”.

All these arguments have been put against the Voice. They are wrong.

I acknowledge and respect all SDA members will have different views on this matter. I encourage you to vote later this year with a generous heart and in the best traditions of unionism.

Walk together with our Indigenous brothers and sisters to make sure they are genuinely consulted, like every worker, on the decisions which affect them.

It’s just another small step in the long march toward recognition and respect.

The SDA’s campaign to lift the wages of retail, fast food and warehouse workers in Australia has reached its conclusion for another year as we applaud the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) decision to raise the minimum wage by 5.75%.

The SDA believes that all workers deserve a living wage and currently too many people are struggling to afford the necessities or are forced to go without.

The Union campaigned in stores and online, surveying SDA members and workers across the country and collecting their stories.

Over 3,500 individual respondents completed the SDA’s Annual Wage Review survey. The responses were critical in helping shape the arguments put to the FWC by the SDA that outlined why workers needed and deserved a fair and decent pay rise in 2023. The survey results presented no surprises – the cost of living crisis, inflation, and years of low wage growth have left Australian workers struggling to make ends meet.

Survey Results

When asked whether the rising cost of living was ‘putting pressure on [their] household budget’, 93.5% of all respondents either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’.

Over two thirds (67.5%) of respondents said that their financial position had become worse in the last five years. We also gave SDA members the opportunity to express exactly why they needed a pay rise – without delay – this July. Thousands of stories that detail the financial pressure workers are under were submitted, a small selection of which are shown below.

The SDA would like to thank everyone who contributed to the campaign and completed the survey. Your participation is integral to the work the Union does.

I’m now living in a caravan because I can’t afford a rented apartment any longer.

– Fast Food Worker

At the moment I struggle to pay all my bills. My partner and I have to decide whether we have a proper meal or have the heating on.

– Supermarket Worker

My wage doesn’t keep up with the cost of living and I have no money left at the end of the week. We’ve had to move back in with family to afford to live.

– Fast Food Worker

My mortgage has gone up $100 per week and it is extremely hard to keep up the payments and still feed and clothe my family. We have another baby on the way as well and I genuinely don’t know how we are going to survive.

– Supermarket Worker

It is a big struggle raising two kids on my own on a retail wage. The cost of groceries and power have gone up dramatically. We have to go without a lot of things now due to the costs and I very rarely get to do any fun things with the kids of a weekend due to the struggle.

– Retail Worker