Day 199 - 11 Dec 95 - Page 19
1 mechanism that would ensure an annual pay rise for staff.
2 Staff commencing work at McDonald's in New Zealand are now
3 presented with an employer controlled agreement that has no
4 reference to unions and no mechanism for independent or
5 collective representation and negotiation. This office
6 knows of no situation in which new employees have
7 successfully negotiated more than the Company policy.
8
9 An examination of those policies shows that McDonald's
10 employment policies provide for unilateral variation of the
11 restaurant bonus scheme by Managers and/or franchisees, and
12 upon termination the Company's claim to be able to make
13 employment deductions from workers pay appears to be in
14 conflict with the provisions of Wages Protection Act, a New
15 Zealand statute. Alastair Duncan".
16
17 The article which he verifies is from Labour Notes magazine
18 and it is dated at the top right-hand corner April 1995:
19
20 "Big Mac puts the bite on staff. With the fast food chains
21 locked in a battle over who gives better value for money,
22 customers are knocking back burgers and chicken as never
23 before.
24
25
26 At the forefront of the battle is the international giant
27 McDonald's - ready to take on all comers.
28
29 Behind the special deals and the super combos are the staff
30 who prepare the products in the midst of a battle for
31 market share, business sense would suggest the time is ripe
32 to value and promote goodwill among staff.
33
34 But instead McDonald's has angered union members with its
35 drive to do away with collective bargaining with its
36 employees.
37
38 In January the company advised the Service Workers Union
39 (SW) that it no longer intended to negotiate a collective
40 contract with its staff.
41
42 Instead the company pushed individual contracts and the
43 replacement of the collective contract with a company
44 controlled employment handbook.
45
46 In February the company moved to bypass the union and put
47 the deal direct to its staff.
48
49 Union officials were banned from company-controlled
50 meetings while union delegates reported that staff ideas
51 were ignored.
52
53 At face value the company's pay offer looks attractive,
54 lifting the hourly rate from $7.71 to $8.13 an hour - an
55 increase of 42 cents an hour. In a low paid industry the
56 pay rise is desperately needed.
57
58 But a closer examination shows the offer is full of fish
59 hooks.
60
