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RBL Salaried Managers Negotiation

RBL Negotiating team

Restaurant Brands Limited Salaried Managers Bargaining team met with RBL management last month to discuss claims for a union agreement. Both the union and company presented their claims and agreed to meet again to discuss further on 9th December. Overall the negotiations were positive and Unite is optimistic about the process so far.

If you would like to know more then please contact Tom at tom@unite.org.nz or 029-445-5703.

RBL Misconduct Reporting: What you need to know

Restaurant Brands Ltd (KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks) has recently announced a new confidential information phone line and website so that the company can obtain information from employees about misconduct in the workplace. Below are a few things members need to know about the Report It Now website and the 0800 ALERT phone line:

- Unite was not in any way involved in establishing Report It Now/0800 ALERT with RBLNZ or any other firm. Unite has no relationship with Report It Now/0800 ALERT.

- A danger with such anonymous reporting methods is that people could potentially try to use the system to settle personal problems with other employees.

Short till? Don't get forced to pay

Unite recently got a Pizza Hut worker $100 back after they had been pressured to reimburse for a till that was short. Unite members are advised not to offer to personally reimburse for till shortfalls. Get in touch with the union if you come under pressure to make up the difference yourself.

Letter from Restaurant Brands Delegate

Peace to you comrades.

And also all our loyal members would like to give our utmost gratitude for your support.

We have effectively unionised 80% of our store and morale is at an all time high.

At first this was hard going for me and what small membership we had.

So we devised a plan targeted at none members to show how strong we can be if we stick together.

The members and I held a meeting so we could talk about all our concerns and bring them to managements attention.

  1. Management demanding a med cert if someone is sick one day.

  2. Management invading privacy (Ringing up homes talking to family seeing if someone is sick).

Rosters and Hours of work in Restaurants

Over the last month several issues have been raised with Unite organisers regarding security or hours and roster protocols, the following is a summary of what your contract says about these important issues.

New breaks schedule

As you will be aware, there is a new breaks schedule for crew and supervisors within all RBLNZ stores. The change was partially due to new legislation introduced by the government.

The legislation means that ALL employers are now required to give 10-minute and 30-minute breaks. Based on legislation change, Unite negotiated a formal variation to the union agreement with RBLNZ.

The main advantages of the new breaks schedule for RBL staff are firstly, a 15-minute break within a three-hour shift, and secondly, two 15-minute breaks and a half-hour unpaid break for total shift lengths of 6-8 hours. So, for example, if you start at 12 noon and finish at 6pm, you will get two 15s and one 30 minute break.

Protect the jobs of Chicago Pizza Hut workers

Unite has been approached by Chicago Workers' Collaborative, an organisation that educates and mobilizes low-wage (mainly Latino immigrant) workers to understand work rights and immigration issues.

Unite is distributing information to Pizza Hut workers in NZ about the unfair terminations of Latino workers in Chicago. Over the past months, since February, more than 100 Pizza Hut workers in Chicago have been fired for no good reason. One of the employees had worked for Pizza Hut for 15 years. RBLNZ has no connection to these sackings, but Unite is calling on YUM International to stop the sackings and reinstate the effected workers immediately.

Twenty Unite members at RBL Contact Centre have lent their names to a letter we will be sending to YUM International.

Can Managers Join the Union?

Many managers and assistant managers in the restaurants are unsure as to whether they can join the union or not.

The answer is YES EVERY EMPLOYEE HAS THE RIGHT TO JOIN THE UNION.

What's Passing on and Free-Riding?

Passing-on: When the company gives the benefits and improvements that the union wins to non-members.

Free-riding: When an employee on a site covered by a union decides not to join the union while receiving the benefits and improvements that the union wins.

WHAT'S OUR VIEW ON PASSING ON IN THE RESTAURANTS?

Unite membership numbers surge by over 1000 in a fortnight - Press Release Monday 7 April

Unite Union membership has more than doubled to nearly two thousand in Restaurant Brands stores after a union employment agreement was reached last week covering 3500 workers in Starbucks, KFC and Pizza Hut nationwide.

“The enormous surge in growth of membership reflects the workers support at the outcome of negotiations for a new union collective agreement,” said Unite National Secretary Matt McCarten.

“We have now reached between 50 per cent and 100 per cent membership density in most fast food stores, which is an extraordinary result considering four years ago membership in the sector was less than a paltry one per cent – and the union is still growing.

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