Workers at The Warehouse’s Auckland distribution centre will be staying home tomorrow (Tuesday) in a 24-hour strike protesting a breakdown in bargaining, treatment of labour-hire workers and dissatisfaction with the company’s restructuring plans. 

Hayley Courtney, an organiser at First Union, which represents the workers said the walkout marked the first strike action for these workers “but may not be the last”.

“This is a company with a horrendous track record for exploiting labour-hire workers en masse to avoid their responsibility as an employer,” said Courtney.

“For these workers, who’ve been under the gun and overworked since The Warehouse ramped up its online and mail-order operations during Covid-19, it’s supremely offensive to be milked for all they are worth and then dismissed without notice or reason so the company can avoid legal obligations to employ them directly.”

She said distribution-centre workers have been watching what she described as an “absolute sham and rort” of The Warehouse making hundreds of staff in stores across the country redundant “while they are literally rushing stock in and out of trucks and warehouses at a pace like they’ve never seen before” responding to online orders.

The strike of about 270 workers will take effect at midnight Monday after a vote by union members on Friday. 

She accused the company of rejecting intentions to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding to work together on the labour-hire issues. 

“This should not still be an exploitable loophole in employment law in 2020, and the Warehouse should demand more of themselves.”