After strikes at Bunnings stores in Auckland and Manawatu on Friday, workers from Bunnings stores across Wellington are joining 14 other stores in a national strike at the Australian-owned hardware chain, says FIRST Union Wellington organiser, Richie Morris.

“Bunnings is proposing a collective agreement that will hand bosses the power to chop and change start and finish times without the worker’s agreement,” he says.

“The company is claiming it doesn’t intend to make wholesale changes; if this is true then why are they proposing a collective agreement that will do just that?

“Bunning’s proposals hand a frightening level of power to bosses. Workplaces run best when bosses and workers can agree. Letting one party dictate terms and conditions is a recipe for instability.”

Morris explains that workers need certainty so they can plan their lives.

“This strike comes only two week after a similar strike at the Warehouse Porirua. There’s a strike wave travelling through the retail sector as the large companies attempt to lock their workers into insecure contracts,” he concludes.