Source: Radio New Zealand
Supplied / Woolworths
Customer care workers at Woolworths are on strike until midnight on Wednesday, in protest of the removal of working-from-home privileges and a mandatory one weekend day off.
It’s the third strike by Workers First Union members in the customer care team in the past fortnight, the union says, following four rounds of negotiations for better pay and conditions in the past two months.
These workers are responsible for assisting with online ordering and logistics, customer complaints and refunds, and queries about ‘Everyday Rewards’, Park said.
Workers First organiser Elle Sun-Min Park said members were asking for higher wages, and pushing back against attempts to remove existing entitlements such as one weekend day off per week, and the ability to work from home.
Some staff were hired as remote workers following the pandemic, she said, and had now moved out of the city.
They were also protesting a requirement to be available, on-call, for 12 hours per working day, while only being paid for eight, she said.
Some 105 staff were involved in the strike action, and the union expected it would cause delays for customer enquiries, particularly this close to Christmas.
RNZ has approached Woolworths for comment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand