Scenes Three and Four: The Workers Get Together
Actors:
May, Margaret.
Setting:
Naturally Baking Limited – Administration office.
Margaret
My sister-in-law said people in our job are getting a pay rise throughout the country.
May
How does that work?
Margaret
I’m not sure, but apparently you just join a union and you all get a pay rise.
May
Well, that sounds easy. How do we join a union?
Margaret
I’m not sure but she gave me a number to ring and find out about it.
May
If you ring them can you let me know what they say ‘cos I can do with some more money. I’ve been here for ages and never had a pay rise.
Margaret
Yeah, cool. No problem. I haven’t had a pay rise since I started here either. I came here ‘cos my father is friends with the boss, but I want to get paid the same as other people doing the same job in other companies.
Maybe I should try ringing them now.
[ Pause, picks up telephone, dials, listens, puts it down. ]
It says for me to ring the Department of Labour Helpline if I want to know about employment relations: 0800 20 90 20.
[ Pause, picks up telephone, dials. ]
[ Pause ]
Oh sod this! Another robot telling me what to press. I don’t have time for this. I’ve got heaps of work to do.
[ Puts telephone down. ]
May
I can look up the Employment Relations Authority and the Department of Labour websites and see what I get. I’ll do it at afternoon tea time.
Margaret
Sounds like a better idea to me. I can’t stand all those instructions on the telephone. They freak me out.
While you’re there can you find out anything about part timers and holiday pay? When I started they said I only get 5 days annual leave ‘cos I’m part time. I think that’s unfair. Everyone else gets 20. Why is mine so much less?
May
I’ll look for you – no problem.
[ Later that day. ]
Margaret
Hey May, what did you find out on those employment relations websites?
May
Well, it was quite interesting. The Department of Labour has a site for the Employment Relations Authority. There’s heaps of information there about our rights and employment agreements. Do you have an employment agreement?
Margaret
I don’t think so. I don’t remember signing anything, do you?
May
No, but I think we should have one.
Margaret
Mmm, odd. Maybe we should talk to Dave about that.
May
Apparently we can have an individual one, or a collective one if two or more of us agree to the same conditions and we have a union to represent us.
Margaret
Is that when we get the pay rise?
May
I think the union can negotiate a pay rise for us if we are on a collective.
Margaret
But if we don’t want to be in a union, can we negotiate a pay rise ourselves?
May
Yes, but then it would be an individual agreement.
Margaret
That would suit Sean, he doesn’t believe in unions.
So what union would we join?
May
I went to the Council of Trade Unions website and found a really useful tool called ‘Find your Union’ where you say what job you do and it tells you what union you can join.
It looks like all of us can join the National Distribution Union because we all work in the wholesale trade and in the baking sector.
Margaret
Hey, I’ve heard of them. They were in the paper because they were striking.
May
Their employer locked them out. That’s different. The workers wanted a national award – that means all the sites in the company would be paid the same and have the same conditions of employment. But the employer wanted to pay one site more than the rest and the two parties couldn’t agree, so the workers went on strike for 48 hours.
Then, the employer suspended the workers for an indefinite period, and then locked the workers out of their place of work and didn’t pay them.
Margaret
Is that legal?
May
Yes, strikes and lockouts are lawful if they relate to bargaining for an expired collective agreement and if the parties had already begun bargaining at least 40 days earlier.
Margaret
Gee, that’s hard to go without your pay, eh. How could they feed their families?
May
Some of the other unions and the public contributed money to help them. But it’s a hard thing to do.
Margaret
Sean is always saying he doesn’t want to belong to a union that takes his money then makes him lose his job.
May
That’s Sean’s choice; nobody’s forcing him. We’re just discussing our options. Anyway, they didn’t lose their jobs. It’s illegal to discriminate against workers who are striking, and these people weren’t striking anyway, they were locked out.
Margaret
So how does the work get done if people are on strike?
May
Your boss can ask other staff to do the work, but they can’t make them do it. And the boss can’t get new people in to do the job except for safety reasons.
Margaret
How come you know so much about this?
May
My cousin was in that lockout and he told us all about it.
Margaret
Anyway… What do we do next if we want a collective agreement and a pay rise?
May
I don’t think we get a pay rise just from having a collective agreement. I think it just means we’ll all have the same conditions of employment, and maybe we’ll get a better deal if there are more of us.
Margaret
Yeah, I find it really hard to ask for a pay rise and things. But I know we are paid less than BakeRight staff who are doing the same job – that doesn’t seem fair.
May
Hati wants some training to learn how to drive the forklift so he can learn that job too. It’s funny what’s coming to the surface, just because we told people we were having a look at our rights.
Margaret
Yeah, Hayden wants to know how come he gets paid less just because he’s 17.
And I want to know why I get paid less than the guys!
May
Oh, I also read about the Equal Pay Act and it says you can’t pay men and women differently if they are doing the same job and have the same qualifications. But, Margaret, you’ve only just learned the job and the guys have been doing it for years. That’s why they’re paid more, not because they are males!
Margaret
Yeah, true. I guess that’s fair enough.
May
Why don’t we ring the NDU and ask if someone can come and talk to us about a collective agreement and answer some of our questions. We can have a lunchtime meeting with everyone and decide if it’s a good thing to do.
Margaret
Yeah, I want to know more about the difference between a collective and an individual agreement.
May
I printed out some information about that yesterday. It says that both individual and collective employment agreements must be written, and must explain the dispute resolution processes.
Individual agreements have yours and your bosses’ names on and tell you what work you are doing and where. They also say what hours and pay you get.
Collective agreements are a bit different. They are signed by your boss and your union and tell you who and what it covers. They also tell you what will happen if your work is contracted out or the business is sold. That’s useful. And they tell you how the agreement can be changed, and how and when it will expire.
Margaret
Thanks for printing this out. I’ll read it at lunchtime.
Maybe I can make some posters. Can you print out some more of that information, and we can make flyers so people can read about it first?
May
Yeah, no problem.
Margaret
I think we’d better ask Dave if it’s okay first. I’ll do that today.
May
Yes, we need to ask Dave about it. The ERA says employers must allow union representatives to come into their workplaces, and union officials must exercise access in a reasonable way.
Margaret
Awesome, let’s do it. I think lots of the staff will be into it.
May, you know when you did that web search? Did you find out anything about part timers and annual leave?
May
Yes, there’s an area on the ERA website where you can type in your questions and get answers. From what I could see, you are entitled to a proportion of annual leave according to what you work.
So, if you work 50% of a 40-hour week – 20 hours, you get 50% of the annual leave. That means you get 10 days out of the usual 20 days’ annual leave per year. If your pay is not always the same because you work different hours each week, then you are paid whichever is greater: your ordinary pay, or your average weekly earnings for the last 12 months.
The first thing you have to do is to agree with Dave about what a week means to you both.
Margaret
I usually work 20 hours a week – sometimes more. So… I should get at least 10 days’ annual leave. They’re ripping me off! I’m gonna talk to Dave about that!
