Bradford to host Bunnings' workers meeting

Green Party Spokesperson on Industrial Relations, Sue Bradford, is hosting a meeting of Bunnings workers at Parliament today.

The workers are in a battle with their Australian employer. The meeting will be held at the Beehive Theaterette at 12:30pm.

Bunnings workers, who belong to the National Distribution Union, and their boss have been negotiating now for nearly a year.

Ms Bradford is supporting the workers’ call for a prompt and fair resolution to their dispute that delivers decent kiwi wages that workers and their families can live on.

Bunnings pays its New Zealand workers as little as $12 an hour (this will be the minimum wage in April) while the lowest it will pay its Australian workers doing the same job under their new agreement starting later this year is AS$16.85 (NZ$18.19). Many other retail workers in New Zealand, such as those at Woolworths, start are $13.59 per hour.

Bunnings, which also regularly breaches New Zealand’s Easter trading laws, is facing Employment Authority actions from the NDU for regular breaches of the Employment Relations Act.

It has often delayed, deferred or walked away from agreed bargaining dates during the protracted negotiations.



What: Sue Bradford hosts a meeting of Bunnings workers
When: 12.30pm, Thursday, 21 February 2008
Where: Beehive Theaterette, Wellington