'Low prices in retail are completely compatible with paying retail workers enough to live on'
More than 7,000 employees at The Warehouse will soon receive a living wage of at least $20.50 an hour after the retail company agreed to the terms presented by the workers’ union.
Employees with at least a year’s worth of service will receive a pay increase, which will further rise to $21.15 in 2020.
Pejman Okhovat, CEO of The Warehouse, was optimistic about the deal. “Our 7,000 The Warehouse store team members are central to our ongoing success and this deal acknowledges the importance we place on our team's members,” Okhovat said.
READ MORE: The Warehouse Group pledges to pay a ‘living wage’
Members of First Union, the private sector trade union that led the negotiations, are scheduled to vote on the deal in the coming weeks.
“Achieving a living wage for The Warehouse workers proves that low prices in retail are completely compatible with paying retail workers enough to live on,” said Kate Davis, a spokeswoman for First Union.
“Those large retail companies that are not yet paying living wages are becoming outliers. First Union members are zeroing their focus on them,” she said.
In June, K Mart workers affiliated with First Union also won living wages for their ranks after successfully negotiating a collective agreement. “K Mart is an example of a retail employer who has agreed to offer living wages, proving that it can be done and it’s the right thing to do,” First Union secretary Tali Williams said at the time.
New Zealand has seen retail companies shift towards living wages amid what workers perceive to be a wage crisis in the sector.
