Three decades on – despite the repeal of the ECA in 2000 and its replacement with the more moderate Employment Relations Act (ERA) – New Zealand has one of the lowest rates of union pay bargaining in the OECD. The union movement was brought to its knees, and collective bargaining all but collapsed in the private sector. The underlying premise was that trade unions needed to be neutered, and that individual workers should be able to negotiate their pay and conditions directly with their bosses. The ECA wiped out this national collective structure almost overnight and atomised the vast majority of workers on to individual contracts. The ECA overturned 100 years of centralised pay bargaining, including the system of national awards, which set a minimum floor under wages and conditions for entire industries and occupation groups. Low-paid employees such as Victoria and Manaia – along with bus drivers, cleaners, forestry workers and early childhood teachers – are the focus of the most far-reaching workplace reform since 1991, when the National government of Jim Bolger introduced the Employment Contracts Act (ECA). Last year, its revenue increased by almost 50 per cent to $129m, helping its parent company, Wilson Parking, book a $17m profit. With more than 2500 workers, First Security is the biggest in the business.

In a society troubled by crime, poverty and homelessness, her employer has been enjoying buoyant trade. The prospect of finding somewhere new in Auckland is daunting, and she thinks her income will have to stretch an extra $100 a week to meet the expenses on another place. She's 'comfortable' on her wage and national super, but recently her landlord gave notice on her modest one-bedroom flat. Overtime kicks in after 60 hours a week, and then it's only time-and-a-quarter. The wage is the same whether she's on day shift or night. According to the Commerce Commission's study of the supermarket sector, between 20, Woolworths (the owner of Countdown) and Foodstuffs (New World, Pak'nSave, Four Square) raked in $430 million in 'excess profits' every year.Īfter 12 years of service with her employer, First Security, she's on $21.25 an hour. Her employer, meanwhile, does not seem to be struggling. But I am really grateful I've got a job,' she says.

She lives in a regional town and has grown-up children. Since then, being an 'essential worker' hasn't come with any compensation for working through the pandemic, coping with surges of panic buying, and battling through Omicron-induced staff shortages. Through the first level 4 lockdown in 2020, Countdown and Foodstuffs topped up supermarket wages by 10 per cent, but that was stopped as soon as restrictions eased. She's paid $22.22 an hour for labouring through the nights. She has experience as a supervisor and, as a delegate with First Union, she supports other workers, including those facing a rising tide of aggression from customers, and new hires who don't know their entitlements. She has a forklift licence, is trained in health and safety and has a first-aid ticket. Apart from two 30-minute breaks, she's on her feet all night, putting her back and legs, arms and shoulders into the service of the $22 billion grocery trade. It's heavy work, lifting boxes of cheese, flour, pet food, Coke and countless other grocery items from pallets on to display shelves. She's a permanent staffer and works steady hours: she starts at 8.30pm and finishes at 6am, except for Sundays when it's 6pm until 3.30am. Victoria (not her real name) has been filling the shelves at Countdown for five years. The business sector has vowed to fight it. More than 250,000 low-paid workers are the focus of the most far-reaching workplace reform in 30 years.

Slice it fair