2006 Progressive Enterprises dispute
Encyclopedia
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
supermarket company Progressive Enterprises
Progressive Enterprises
Progressive Enterprises Limited is an Australian owned company operating in New Zealand, and a subsidiary of the Australian retail group Woolworths Limited....
and employees represented by the National Distribution Union
National Distribution Union
The National Distribution Union is a national trade union in New Zealand. It was formed in 1986 as the Northern Distribution Union by the merger of The Northern Drivers Union, The Northern Stores and Warehouse Union, The Auckland and Gisborne Shop Employee Union, and The Northern Butchers and...
and the EPMU. On 25 August 2006, over 500 employees at Progressive's four distribution centres (in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, Palmerston North
Palmerston North
Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...
and Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
) began a 48 hour strike supporting a demand for a national collective agreement involving an eight percent wage increase and pay parity between the four centres. On 26 August 2006 the company locked out the strikers indefinitely, suspending operations at its distribution centres, with suppliers delivering goods directly to the supermarkets and also setting up amateur small scale distribution centres in car parks of Countdown supermarkets. The dispute was resolved on 21 September 2006 when Progressive Enterprises agreed to pay parity and a 4.5% wage increase.
Background
In 2003 Progressive closed its Auckland and Christchurch distribution centers and rehired the redundant workers on lower pay, the closures ended the former national agreement and resulted in a NZ$2.50 per hour pay gap between the four sites.On 25 November 2005 Progressive Enterprises was brought by Australian retailer Woolworths Limited
Woolworths Limited
Woolworths Limited is a major Australian company with extensive retail interest throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is the:* largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand by market capitalisation and sales...
, the country's largest private employer.
On Friday 25 August 2006 workers at the Progressive Enterprises distribution centres began a 48 hour long strike in support of a nation-wide collective agreement with equal pay rates and existing allowances combined into a site allowance of up to $2.50, an 8% pay rise and an extra week service leave. On the 28th they voted unanimously to extend the strike. Union organiser Stan Renwick stated "This strike has become much more than a fight between distribution workers and Progressive, it's becoming a fight between the communities of Mangere, Palmerston North and Christchurch and $1.1 billion dollars of Australian profit,"
Following the strike the company locked out the workers indefinitely, calling the union demands unrealistic.
Economic Effects
Gisborne Herald
The Gisborne Herald is the daily evening newspaper for Gisborne and environs. It is one of only four independently owned daily newspapers in New Zealand.-History:...
that there were certainly empty gaps on shelves at most supermarkets, although this was not having an impact on sales, with customers substituting out of stock items for different brands.
One National Distribution Union employee has claimed that the company was paying more than three times what it would normally pay for distribution during the lock-out.
As the dispute entered its third week the locked out workers started to feel the effects of missing three pay cheques, one locked out worker, Virginia Watson, told TVNZ that she was now relying on donations to feed her kids "It's really starting to hurt. The kids haven't had a decent meat and vegetable meal to eat for over a week now, been pretty hard for them." Progressive Enterprises estimated that the workers had collectively lost over $2 million in wages during the dispute.
On 24 October The Press
The Press
The Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is owned by Fairfax Media.- History :The Press was first published on 25 May 1861 from a small cottage in Montreal Street, making it the oldest surviving newspaper in the South Island of New Zealand. The first...
reported that the dispute "took a toll on Australian parent company Woolworths, which reported flat sales in New Zealand for the first quarter"
On the picket lines
Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt is a city in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Its council has adopted the name Hutt City Council, but neither the New Zealand Geographic Board nor the Local Government Act recognise the name Hutt City. This alternative name can lead to confusion, as there are two cities in the...
three picketers who were not employed by Progressive Enterprises were arrested at a Countdown supermarket after a stand off with a truck driver. During the third week of the dispute ten people were arrested on the picket line in Auckland after truck tires were punctured during a clash between picketers and a moving truck, National Distribution Union organiser Ingrid Beckers, who was one of the people arrested, told the New Zealand Herald that the truck had driven dangerously through the picket line and that the driver unwound his window and swung a metal pole around. According to Senior Sergeant Cornell Kluessien "Some were charged with disorderly behaviour, some with obstructing police and some with obstructing a roadway."
From the union movement
At a special affiliates meeting of the New Zealand Council of Trade UnionsNew Zealand Council of Trade Unions
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions is a national trade union center in New Zealand. The NZCTU represents 360,000 workers, and is the largest democratic organisation in New Zealand....
, the organisation representing 350,000 New Zealand union members, a resolution was passed condemning the lock out and supporting the claims of distribution workers, resolving "That each union, separately and collectively, will continue to take every possible action to support the NDU, the EPMU and their distribution worker members to achieve a fair settlement of their dispute".
The Maritime Union of New Zealand
Maritime Union of New Zealand
The Maritime Union of New Zealand is a trade union which represents waterfront workers, seafarers and related workers in New Zealand. It was formed in 2002 from the merger of the New Zealand Waterfront Workers' Union and the New Zealand Seafarers' Union....
issued a statement pledging "financial, practical and moral support for the workers and their pickets" and threatened to stop unloading supermarket goods at the wharves. They also worked to gain international support for the locked out workers, including from the International Transport Workers Federation, which represents 4,500,000 transport workers in 142 countries. Maritime union members voted to each contribute one hour of pay to the locked out worker fund each week until the dispute was settled.
Over $425,000 was raised by the unions to support the locked out workers, a big part of this was $30,000 a week from one Auckland workplace with 1500 unionised staff and large donations from Australlian unions the Maritime Union of Australia
Maritime Union of Australia
The Maritime Union of Australia covers waterside workers, seafarers, port workers, professional divers, and office workers associated with Australian ports. As of 2011 the union has about 13,000 members. It is an affiliate of the International Transport Workers' Federation and represents the...
, the Transport Workers' Union
Transport Workers' Union
The Transport Workers Union is an Australian trade union representing 85,000 men and women working in aviation, oil, waste management, gas, road transport, passenger vehicles and freight logistics. They are affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions , the International Transport...
and the Rail Tram and Bus Union. On 18 September representatives of these unions travelled to New Zealand to join the picket likes.
At an executive board meeting held in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
on the 14–16 September, the ICFTU-APRO, part of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions , and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour to form the...
representing 30 million workers in the Asia-Pacific region
Asia-Pacific region
Asia-Pacific region may refer to:*Asia-Pacific, a geographic designation*Asia-Pacific Scout Region *Pacific Rim, countries and cities located around the edge of the Pacific Ocean...
condemned what it saw as "This heavy handed pressure by a major corporate employer to force low paid workers to relinquish their right to bargain collectively as guaranteed by ILO Conventions and New Zealand law."
From the business community
Business lobby groups Business New ZealandBusiness New Zealand
Business NZ is New Zealand’s largest business advocacy body, headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand. The president of the Business NZ council is Trevor Goodwin and Phil O'Reilly is the chief executive.- History :...
and the Employers and Manufacturers Association both expressed concern that the dispute reflected a new style of ideological union claims, such as the claim for a national collective agreement. Employers and Manufacturers Associations Chief Executive Alasdair Thompson told National Radio "If they were to pull this off, then it could well lead to other situations where other employers who operate nationally see this sort of thing tried out against them."
Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly stated "I think the Progressive dispute is a very public way station of a trend towards more of this. The claim's not just about money, it's about structural stuff and bargaining issues that employers will find quite difficult to agree to," and claimed that if unions continue this approach to negotiations it would undoubtedly lead to more industrial disputes.
An editorial in the Nelson Mail called the dispute "a disturbing reminder of the past, when unions had the power to shut down an entire industry - and sometimes used it."
Political response
The government did not made any official statement about the dispute, however one individual cabinet minister, Steve MahareySteve Maharey
Steven "Steve" Maharey CNZM is a former Member of Parliament for Palmerston North in New Zealand, as a member of the Labour Party...
, whose electorate includes the Palmerston North distribution centre made a token donation of $200 to the unions locked out worker fund. EPMU leader Andrew Little challenged all members of parliament to match or beat this donation, though none did.
The opposition National Party put out a press release critical of the workers, mistakenly calling the industrial dispute a 'strike' when it was actually a lockout.
The Green Party
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party that has seats in the New Zealand parliament. It focuses firstly on environmentalism, arguing that all other aspects of humanity will cease to be of concern if there is no environment to sustain it...
urged the public to boycott Progressive Enterprises supermarkets until the dispute was resolved. The party's industrial relations spokesperson Sue Bradford
Sue Bradford
Sue Bradford is a New Zealand politician who served as a list Member of Parliament representing the Green Party from 1999 to 2009.- Early life :...
stated in a press release “The Green Party is totally behind the locked-out workers. The right to form national collective agreements is a basic one which workers in many other industries have successfully attained. It is appalling to see Progressive Enterprises applying such brute economic force to prevent its workers from negotiating one,”
The Alliance
Alliance (New Zealand political party)
The Alliance is a left-wing political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1991, and was influential in the 1990s, but has since declined and has no representation in parliament. It suffered a major setback after Jim Anderton, the party's leader, left the party in 2002, taking several of the...
supported the locked out workers by donating $500 and encouraging members of the party to match that donation. It also criticised the Labour
New Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
government for remaining silent during the dispute. and The Workers Party
Workers Party of New Zealand
The Workers Party of New Zealand was a socialist/communist political party in New Zealand...
produced and distributed a bulletin supporting the locked out workers, and encouraging the public to donate to the locked out worker fund.
Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
raised $250 at a community picket of Foodtown Onehunga, and its activists in the Solidarity Union
Solidarity Union
Solidarity Union is a trade union in New Zealand and was founded in August 2006.The Solidarity Union seeks to organise workers in clusters in South Auckland around an area strategy building local workers councils...
manned the picket line most days during the strike. The Workers' Charter
Workers' Charter
Workers' Charter was a broad-based, left-wing movement active in New Zealand, which produced a monthly newspaper of the same name. The paper's editor is well known New Zealand socialist and anti-racist John Minto, and its contributors range across the left wing spectrum- anarchists, revolutionary...
newspaper published extensive coverage in its pages, also helping to raise the need for workers to challenge the ERA's anti strike laws and deliver illegal solidarity strike action to support those locked out.
Settlement
Both sides of the dispute claimed victory when an agreement was reached between the company and the two unions representing its employees on 21 September. The majority of workers in Auckland and Palmerston North voted to accept the company's offer, however, the vote in Christchurch was close. The unions did not achieve one collective agreement for all three centres but NDU secretary Laila Harre said the terms were the same; "The most important thing for these workers was using their national bargaining power to deliver equal pay for equal work and they've done a stunning job of that," The agreement allowed for a 4.5% pay rise and pay parity between the four distribution centres by the end of 2008. Different sites’ shift and roster systems were preserved but the system of allowances was streamlined to comprise a single base rate. The company also made available interest free loans of up to $1,000 to union members affected by the lock-out.After the dispute
In Christchurch a small group of workers refused to go back to work the day after a settlement was reached, instead going back to work the following Monday. NDU delegate Karl Skivington told National Radio that 49 per cent of workers there voted against accepting the deal from Progressive, and that many of them were "still angry" and in no mood to rush back to work for employers who had locked them out. On 12 October The PressThe Press
The Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is owned by Fairfax Media.- History :The Press was first published on 25 May 1861 from a small cottage in Montreal Street, making it the oldest surviving newspaper in the South Island of New Zealand. The first...
reported that Marty Hamnett who had been CEO of Progressive Enterprises during the dispute, was leaving his position to "return to work in Australia for family reasons"
Negotiations between Progressive Enterprises employees at the Southmore Meat Processing Plant represented by The Meat Workers Union
New Zealand Meat & Related Trades Workers Union
The New Zealand Meat & Related Trades Workers Union is a trade union in New Zealand. It represents workers in the New Zealand meat industry. This includes workers in Freezing works, Tanneries, Fertiliser plants, halal slaughtermen, small meat processing plants and small goods.The NZ Meat Workers...
continued after a settlement was reached for the workers at distribution centers, as of 20 October union negotiators had just come out of mediation with a deal to take back to the membership to be voted on.
At the end of the year, each of the workers received a $100 Christmas bonus from their union, funded from the donations that came in after the dispute ended.
On 21 March 2007 Progressive Enterprises was awarded the 2006 Roger Award
Roger Award
The Roger Award For The Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in New Zealand is an annual media campaign run since 1997 by two activist organisations, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and GATT Watchdog...
, an award given by the organisations Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa
Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa
The Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa is a research and lobbying organisation combatting what it considers the sell-out of New Zealand companies and assets to overseas interests.-Economic criticism:...
and GATT Watchdog for the worst transnational corporation Operating In New Zealand. A spokesperson for CAFCA and GATT Watchdog stated:
See also
- Progressive EnterprisesProgressive EnterprisesProgressive Enterprises Limited is an Australian owned company operating in New Zealand, and a subsidiary of the Australian retail group Woolworths Limited....
- National Distribution UnionNational Distribution UnionThe National Distribution Union is a national trade union in New Zealand. It was formed in 1986 as the Northern Distribution Union by the merger of The Northern Drivers Union, The Northern Stores and Warehouse Union, The Auckland and Gisborne Shop Employee Union, and The Northern Butchers and...
- EPMU
- Lockout (industry)Lockout (industry)A lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. This is different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work.- Causes :...
External links
- Video of a picket in Dunedin
- Union song about the dispute by Wellington musician Don Franks
- Progressive Lockout 2006 - I Was There Poem written by one of the locked out workers after the dispute
- EPMU website
- NDU website