Lockdown heroes battle lower incomes

They were the unexpected heroes of New Zealand’s early Covid-19 lockdowns – the supermarket workers, cleaners and hospital staff who braved the frontline day after day.

But as inflation runs hot and the country as a whole records large increases in earnings, are those workers keeping up?

In the supermarket sector, results appear have been mixed as New Zealand’s two main supermarket chains operate very differently. Countdown supermarkets – owned by Woolworths NZ – have a collective agreement with First Union which covers workers in all its stores.

Foodstuffs, the other major player in the grocery game, has two co-operatives, one in the North Island and one in the South Island. Its supermarkets, which include the Pak ‘n Save, New World and Four Square brands, are individually owned and operated.

That meant each store had to negotiate separately, First Union retail and finance secretary Ben Peterson said.

While most North Island Pak ‘n

Save stores were unionised, roughly half of supermarkets still weren’t covered by a collective and there could be huge variation in wages and conditions across non-unionised stores, he said.

The minimum wage in New Zealand rose to $21.20 this year, while the living wage – the minimum ‘‘a worker needs to pay for the necessities of life and participate as an active citizen in the community’’ – has been set at $23.65 per hour.

Countdown people director Ella McInerney said the company recognised the ‘‘incredible work’’ its team put in during the first lockdown in 2020. In response,

Woolworths Group shares with a combined value of $10 million had been given to more than 14,000 workers.

‘‘We also paid our waged supermarket and distribution centre team members a bonus equivalent to an extra 10% per hour worked over the course of the first four-week level 4 lockdown,’’ she said.

Countdown workers also received a 5% discount on their grocery shopping. During the pandemic, that had been increased to 10% on fresh and own brand products.

Around 7000 unionised workers

Countdown supermarkets at received a pay rise of almost $2 an hour in October 2020. Non-unionised workers received the same pay two months later.

The increase was included in a collective agreement signed the previous year, which would pay workers with 12 month service a minimum of $21.15 an hour – the living wage at the time of signing.

Elsewhere, the battle for better pay continues to drag on.

The recent launch of a $1 million advertising campaign promoting a ‘‘rewarding and fulfilling’’ career in the care and support sector was met with scepticism.

Unions and advocates said it was unlikely the ‘‘life-changing careers’’ campaign would boost numbers in the depleted workforce while low pay, uncertain hours and no paid breaks remained.

While the campaign website said care and support workers could earn up to $27 an hour, Public Service Association (PSA) national assistant secretary Melissa Woolley said, on average, support workers earned $23.70 per hour, just 5c more per hour than the living wage.

‘‘The gains of the 2017 pay equity agreement have been eroded because back then the rates were substantially higher than the minimum wage. Now they’re not.’’

Paying the living wage is voluntary but more than 300 New Zealand employers, including the council, have so far committed to paying at least that level.

Mat Danaher, transformational campaigns director at E tū, the union representing cleaners, said wages were often a chief concern for people thinking about the need to improve things at work.

‘‘Paying at least the living wage is one huge part of the picture. However, it’s not the whole story,’’ he said. ‘‘Workers also need proper health and safety, access to training and career progression, job security, real input into decision-making ...’’