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

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