Today Unite Union formally applied to initiate bargaining for a Hospitality Fair Pay Agreement.

National Secretary John Crocker submitted the application at 4:30pm today (1st December – the first day applications can be made).

“This is a great day for all hospo workers across Aotearoa. The current problems in hospitality have been fully exposed over the past two years – but they have been a generation in the making. This FPA will address the real problems – a living wage, secure hours of work and health and safety – including protection from harassment and safe staffing levels.”

“We also want to make sure the minimum standards that all workers should already have are a reality – like regular rest breaks, staying home when you’re sick and getting paid for every hour worked.”

Unite’s application is supported by over 1500 hospitality workers who have signed up to support the campaign over the past six weeks.

“They are not just current union members, but non-union workers from bars, cafes, takeaway, motels and clubs. Getting access to workers on non-unionised sites was the biggest problem –  but once we explained what a Fair Pay Agreement will do for them over 90% signed up to support it.”

The scale of the proposed agreement’s coverage is massive. 

“Using Stats New Zealand figures for 2022 to assess our final coverage, we can see there are over 164,000 employees in the specific sectors covered, (although there will be some employees not covered within that).”

“There are over 24,000 separate enterprises employing those workers, but fortunately we have been building a good relationship with the major employer representatives over the past year and have been consulting with them already over coverage and other issues”.

“We are really pleased to get this started today. We expect to be bargaining early next year and for all hospo workers to see the benefits by mid 2023”