Workers picket Auckland Farmers store calling for fair pay

Thursday, 7 June 2018

Tali Williams from First Union leads a protest for fair wages and conditions for Farmers workers outside the company's flagship Queen Street store.

Retail workers from the First Union picketed the Farmers store in central Auckland calling for higher wages and a fairer performance review system.

The workers claim Farmers' is keeping wages low by pegging pay-rises to staff performance, and then routinely assessing good workers' performance as poor.

'Farmers workers typically start on or near the minimum wage ($16.50), for most roles the pay scale ends around $17.50 and any pay increases from there are only obtained through performance pay reviews,' said First Union retail secretary Tali Williams.

First Union protest for fair pay and conditions outside Farmers in Queen Street, Auckland.

'Farmers members believe the performance pay review system is unfair.'

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Tali Williams from First Union protests for fair pay and conditions for workers outside Farmers in Queen Street.

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'One such worker received multiple certificates with glowing reviews praising his customer service skills yet his latest performance review resulted in a C-grade despite all his efforts.'

Smiths City provided the spark for the retail sector uprising over unpaid hours.

'Over half of Farmers members are on this grade or lower.'

Farmers was approached for comment and is preparing a statement on First Union's claims.

Williams says workers want Farmers to phase out the performance pay system that holds wages down, and to pay their workers a living wage.

'We realise this cannot happen overnight, but for ethics sake it should be removed. How can they tout their brand as a family's brand when at the same time their abysmal pay is causing many families to struggle?'

There's been a retail workers uprising following an Employment Court decision that Smiths City had to compensate staff for over 15 years of requiring them to attend sales meetings that were unpaid, covering topics ranging from sales targets to promotions.

The meetings and the time was not recorded as hours worked, resulting in some staff not receiving the minimum wage once the extra 15 minutes was taken into account.

The company argued the meetings were not compulsory and no disciplinary action was taken against staff for not attending them, but the Employment Court ruled against them, triggering a flood of complaints from workers at retail chains including Countdown, Pak 'n Save, Kmart, The Warehouse, Noel Leeming, Farmers, Whitcoulls, Cotton On Group, Briscoes Group and Harvey Norman.

Some, including Farmers, have responded, said First Union's Alicia Burrow. The retailer has sent reminders to all store managers not to require unpaid overtime from staff.

Retail workers and their supporters will be making a statement in the centre of Auckland's bustling Queen Street tomorrow over pay and performance conditions.

The Auckland Farmers workers' protest is the first of a series of pickets organised by First Union that will happen outside Farmers stores across the country in the coming weeks.