Source: First Union
Following a successful first week of strike actions by nearly 10,000 Woolworths workers last week, FIRST Union members say a request for all supermarket staff to ‘voluntarily’ dress up in Disney costumes that they must pay for themselves this week is in “poor taste” and indicative of the company’s wasteful spending and tone-deafness during the largest-ever strike action of its supermarket staff over pay and staffing levels.
“It’s in really poor taste for Woolworths to ask all staff to dress up in make-believe costumes that they have to pay for themselves when they’re in the middle of a very real strike action over low pay and unsafe staffing levels,” said Rudd Hughes, FIRST Union National Secretary for Retail and Finance.
“Woolworths may be living in dreamland but it’s a tall order to ask underpaid staff to join them there on their own dime – real Scrooge McDuck behaviour.”
“We’re hearing from members that the majority will not participate and find it extremely distasteful that they’re being asked to make and dress up in Disney costumes after spending the last week being misled and lied to by store managers about the legality of wearing a ‘ strike sticker’ at work.”
FIRST Union reported on Friday that managers around the country attempted to intimidate and mislead FIRST Union members on strike about their rights to participate in the lawful action, with examples reported of managers hiding strike stickers and telling staff on Wednesday last week that the strike had already concluded and workers were now risking disciplinary action by continuing to wear stickers, which was incorrect.
Nearly 10,000 FIRST Union Woolworths workers voted for industrial action that began on Tuesday last week, with staff wearing strike stickers until Friday and members at ten stores handing out “receipt”-style flyers to staff. A media and social media strike are ongoing, with the union and company returning to the bargaining table this week, with members expecting a “massively improved offer” to avoid further strike actions like the withdrawal of labour, according to Mr Hughes. He said the public response from customers to strike actions had been overwhelmingly positive and supportive, and solidarity was growing among union members.
Michelle McKenzie, a Woolworths duty supervisor based in Christchurch and member of the FIRST Union bargaining team, said the company’s request for staff to dress up as Disney characters had not gone over well with workers.
“Most people can’t afford to pay for their own living expenses comfortably on our current wages, so the request for us to design a Disney-accurate costume from our own back pockets was seen as quite ridiculous,” said Ms McKenzie.
“It makes us feel like the strike action is falling on deaf ears. We don’t want to wish upon a star – we want a living wage, safer staffing levels and penalty rates for nights and weekends.”
Mr Hughes said the Disney promotion included handing out thousands of collectible trading cards to customers, and Woolworths would be spending a “fortune” on other activities like advertising on television during the Olympics and paying for public transport signage. Instructions to workers were to dress as accurate Disney, Marvel and Star Wars characters with licensed Disney clothing, and no DC characters or costume-mixing, e.g. the Sheriff of Nottingham wearing a Darth Vader mask, or “replicating culturally diverse character” skintones (i.e. “blackface”).
“Getting into bed with Disney and asking workers to play make-believe dress-up during strike action is strangely fitting given Disney’s historically anti-union background,” said Mr Hughes.
In the United States in June, four Disney staff unions filed unfair labour practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Disney for “unlawful discipline, intimidation and surveillance of union members exercising their right to wear union buttons at work.”
“If Woolworths want to talk about heroes in supermarkets, they should look at their own workers,” said Mr Hughes.
“Essential workers got us through Covid-19 and contributed to one of the world’s best pandemic responses – they have never really been thanked for it despite working for one of the most profitable companies in New Zealand.”
