“Can’t even afford the groceries they’re selling” – Coles and Woolworths workers go on a national strike for higher wages and better working conditions. Source: Green Left on Facebook.
Coles and Woolworths workers have made history this weekend after teaming up and going on a national strike for better wages and working conditions.
The workers, many of whom members of the Retail and Fast-Food Workers Union (RAFFWU), walked off the job from 10am on Saturday.
The strike took place across the country, with workers in towns and cities, including Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, and Canberra walking off the job.
RAFFWU members and speakers gathered outside the Myer Centre in Brisbane on Saturday, with support from other unions, including the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and the Southeast Queensland Union of Renters (SEQUR).
Work bans, including refusing to clean bathrooms, crush boxes, and pack online orders, began in Coles over the weekend, with bans in Woolworths being in place for over a week.
RAFFWU’s federal secretary Josh Cullinan said that members are fighting for a higher hourly wage of $29 per hour, better protection against retail abuse, and secure jobs for casual workers.
“Workers are paid a few cents more than the minimum wage,” Cullinan told 9 News.
“They just want a living wage to deal with the rising cost of living, they can’t even afford the groceries they’re selling.”
“We want to see each time a worker is assaulted or abused to be treated like a crime.
“The level of abuse, threats intimidation and assaults is unprecedented and outrageous and the employers are not lifting a finger to stop it.
“We also want to see casual workers getting ongoing jobs.
“They just want to be able to have more hours in their contract to rely on and mega companies making mega profits should be able to provide that.”
Despite being essential workers and having to work through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, retail workers are often paid minimum wage (or barely above minimum wage), are exposed to unsafe conditions, are given unreliable hours or overworked, and are often abused and mistreated by their employers and customers.
It has also been reported that retail workers in Australia are spending as much as 80 per cent of their weekly income on their rent, all while Coles’ and Woolworths’ CEOs have proudly reported billions of dollars in profits.
RAFFWU has said they will not back down until the demands of the workers are met.
