Workers at Bunnings Mount Maunganui are walking off the job for the fifth time as frustration with their employer’s attitude to rostering grows, says FIRST Union Bay of Plenty organiser, Kirstin Miller. “Bunnings is insisting on locking workers into rolling rosters. At the moment rosters are set with mutual agreement, but Bunnings wants the power to impose rosters whether workers agree or not.” Although the company claims it does not intend to regularly change rosters, Miller quest
ions why the company is insisting on the power to change rosters on a whim.
“Rosters by mutual agreement allow fair give and take on both sides. But giving bosses the power to just impose rosters isn’t fair,” says Miller.
Bunnings Mount Maunganui union member, Cathy Dodgson, has worked for Bunnings for eight years and says that in her time at the store she has only said no to a roster change once. Dodgson had the a genuine reason to do so and a right to do so under the collective agreement, but she is anxious about what will happen if Bunnings alters the collective agreement and removes her power to say no to a roster change.
Other members say they always try to be accommodating and more often than not they agree to a change, yet they value the power to say no.
“Working people lead lives outside of work so they need the power to say no from time to time. Removing that power is going to put workers’ family, sporting and community life at risk,” says Miller.
“Bunnings has doubled its annual profit thanks to workers efforts, there’s no need for a rolling roster system that gives the workers who create the profits no say over when they work.”
