Members in QLD pull together at Cater and Spencer
After many weeks of negotiation, members at Cater and Spencer agreed to vote on a new offer from the company. The new offer included a better wage increase of 3.5% and 3%.
Members at Carter and Spencer had received generous wage increases in the past, but this year began with the biggest flood in Brisbane’s history. Workers saw the waters wipe out their shed, which caused millions of dollars worth of damage. Their work was transferred to a Polar Fresh site at Parkinson. This was a hard year for Cater and Spencer members and one they will not forget in a hurry.
In a shed that has seen membership fall for different reasons, rumours that the long-held Coles contract would move permanently to Polar Fresh had many worried that the company would seek to cut labour costs and offer a wage increase below inflation costs.
Three new delegates soon stepped up to the plate; Dave, Chris and Dan proved the old union culture was just in snooze mode and was ready to awake again.
The delegates and organiser Paul McGrath met the company for the first time in early October 2011. The company hired an expensive consultant, which added to a cast of five company representatives at each meeting, but delegates just continued to go about their roles professionally.
Weeks of meetings saw new members sign up to the NUW. In return the company put an agreement out for the members to vote on, which was voted down by a large majority.
As time went on, frustration grew because the company was not prepared to move on anything. They describe their inadequate offer as a ‘gift’. This sort of behavior led to further weeks of tough negotiation.
While asking for a reasonable pay rise, management decided to try and buy people off by upgrading the staff lunchroom. Unfortunately the lunchroom had been in need of some serious work for a while, and while the new table tennis and pool table, microwave, TV and some plates and cups, were nice, everyone agreed that these items didn't pay their bills.
After more meetings the company finally increased their wage offer by half a percent. This is yet another example to prove it is becoming harder and harder for workers to receive pay increases to cover cost of living. Negotiating with employers is constricted for all workers, even permanent staff, when employers can shift their contracts and operations to suit their ongoing profit margins.
Workers at Cater and Spenser are union because they need to be. Workers need to work together as a unified group to give them any chance of having a say of their working lives and how that will affect their future.
There was one more hurdle. The company had refused to pay back pay. A firm NO had been given to Organiser Paul McGrath more than once. But members knew that back pay was their money and they decided to use their collective strength. Hi vis shirts quickly filled the boardroom, and for the first time members outnumbered the company. Management asked for five minutes to do the sums – shortly after the company agreed to pay all workers the back pay they deserved.
Paul McGrath was inspired by the members at Cater and Spencer and said, “This was the most rewarding EBA I have been involved in and look forward to working with the members into the future, if the flood in January couldn't beat them nothing can.”
