Day 199 - 11 Dec 95 - Page 20


     
     1        The 3% rise actually includes non taxable allowance of 99
     2        cents per shift already paid to many workers under the
     3        union contract.
     4
     5        So-called guaranteed hours are only a 'target'.  Staff lose
     6        their right to overtime, sickleave entitlements are
     7        reduced, and guaranteed break eliminated.
     8
     9        Long-serving staff who accept the offer will also lose
    10        their penal rates and all staff will find that automatic
    11        sick leave is replaced with the manager's discretion.
    12
    13        With no expiry date, the company plan means no guaranteed
    14        pay talks.
    15
    16        Though the company does promise an annual 'review'
    17        McDonald's disbanded store based consultation committees
    18        just four weeks after they were set up.
    19
    20        Teresa Brown worked in McDonald's for four years before
    21        joining the SWU as an organiser.
    22
    23        She was stunned by McDonald's attack on its staff.
    24        'McDonald's are forever telling the crew (staff) that the
    25        customer is the most important person.  What they seem to
    26        have forgotten is that it is the crew who make the stores a
    27        success'.
    28
    29        While most staff are expected to sign the new policy the
    30        McDonald's move may already have backfired."
    31
    32        Union membership in the nationwide chain has jumped in the
    33        past month and more staff than ever before are looking
    34        closely at their employer's real agenda.
    35
    36        'As a result of the companies move we have had more
    37        interest in the union than we've seen for several years',
    38        says Teresa.  'With new delegates being elected and new
    39        staff signing up as members, the company has handed us a
    40        great organising tool'."  I will leave out the next
    41        paragraph because that is about other companies.
    42
    43        Then it says:  "Same product:  Same problems. Across the
    44        world McDonald's prides itself on its burgers looking and
    45        tasting the same.  But behind the smiling service
    46        McDonald's has gained an international reputation for low
    47        pay and hostility to unions.
    48
    49        McDonald's drive to push a company driven 'Employment
    50        Policy' in place of a collective contract is the latest 
    51        step in a series of attacks on worker's rights at the fast 
    52        food giant.  It's a move that fits a world wide pattern of 
    53        wanting to keep unions out of the' family restaurants'."
    54
    55        I will leave the next paragraph -- it is not about New
    56        Zealand.
    57
    58        "To push through the new policy McDonald's hired the
    59        Auckland firm of Teesdale & Meuli.  It had successfully
    60        pushed a similar programme at Farmers department stores,

Prev Next Index