The first edition (Spring 2017) of the newsletter of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union. Including updates from members at Coles, Bakers Delight, IGA and Domino's Pizza as well as stories on the Senate's Penalty Rates Inquiry and Marriage Equality.

1. Member Reports and Campaign Updates
Inside: Reports from members at Bakers Delight, Coles, IGA, Woolworths and
updates from the Senate’s Penalty Rates Inquiry, our On The Run campaign,
Domino’s Pizza, Marriage Equality and more
ACTION
Spring 2017 | Edition 1

2. Welcome to Our First Edition
Josh Cullinan, Secretary
Members and supporters, welcome to the first edition of our newsletter for the Retail and Fast Food
Workers Union. Our front cover is made up of images of member action. Perth members at the penalty
rates rally, Brisbane members at May Day, IGA members who have overturned their zombie agreement,
solidarity actions with other unions, action teams outside Coles and members who spoke at the Senate’s Penalty Rates Inquiry.
In late 2016 we launched our new union and have rapidly grown to be the leading voice fighting campaigns against exploitation
and wage theft. In our sectors of retail and fast food, hundreds of thousands of workers have had billions of dollars worth of penalty
rates, casual loadings, shift allowances and other wages stolen from their pay packets through dodgy so-called “agreements”.
In summer we launched our Taking Back Our Penalty Rates campaign and by fighting back we have already returned more than
a million dollars a year to the pay packets of members at some IGA and Bakers Delight stores. We are on the cusp of returning
more than $100 million per year with action at Coles and Domino’s Pizza. We have also launched campaigns at Woolworths
and other major companies.
Our work is led by retail and fast food workers across Australia. In this first edition we are proud to share the stories of
members, written by members. Fighting back and winning is what we do and it relies on the tireless effort and action of
members. These and many other stories are available on our website and we encourage all readers to visit our website, sign up
and get involved. www.raffwu.org.au
Equality Is Union Business
By David Allen
member at Coles and The Co-op
It’s nigh on impossible to be positive
about the Marriage Equality Postal
Survey as this vicious campaign
drags on. Being asked to reaffirm who you are while
you watch your neighbours put it up for debate can be
crushing. The result has to be the focus; coming together
in the meantime remains the only joy to be found in this
unnecessary experience.
The importance of the changes to the Marriage Act for
me focus more on what this says about Australia as an
egalitarian society and about where we want to be as
a country in the future. The Howard administration’s
alteration to the Marriage Act was informed by
religious prejudices. Its reversal should be celebrated
as advancement by a fair and informed society. The
fabulous weddings my mates will have as a result are
just icing on the cake!
The importance of the involvement of my Union in
the process has been great to me. Equal Rights in
the workplace for LGBT people is of such importance.
Being uncomfortable in your workplace because of
your sexuality is a nightmare that you can only know
through experience. Knowing that you have solidarity
and support is of immeasurable value.
The more inclusive Australian society becomes, the stronger
it will be. Please take the time and Vote Yes for Equality.
Fighting Fit in
Coles Negotiations
By Liam Mansbridge,
member at Coles
My name is Liam Mansbridge, and I
am a Coles RAFFWU Delegate. For the past year, I have
been actively working to educate my fellow workers
about the benefits of joining RAFFWU. With the Coles
enterprise agreement under negotiations, workers were
keen to know more about how they can get a better
deal, and how RAFFWU could help them do that. A few
issues emerged as important from discussions with my
colleagues- free uniforms, a decent pay rise, domestic
violence leave and most importantly penalty rates.
I also had the privilege of representing my workmates
at the bargaining table at four separate negotiations.
RAFFWU and I took these issues to the table, along with
many others, and I was disappointed to see that Coles
would only offer two days of domestic violence leave. It
also surprised me to see that I was often the only worker
in the room, as worker representation and participation
in the bargaining process is utterly vital to getting a
decent and fair agreement. After all, it is workers on the
ground like us who the agreement applies to.
For a comprehensive update on Coles bargaining visit
our website at www.raffwu.org.au/coles

3. Morgan’s IGA Members Take Back Their Penalty Rates
By Megan Taylor, member at IGA
With RAFFWU I have achieved what I had thought was the impossible. It is easily to be apathetic
with one’s work agreements and environment, and I had thought I just had to accept not being
paid penalty rates.
Once you take the first scary step to contact the union, things can move very quickly. Within a few months of my first tentative
meeting with a RAFFWU representative my old workplace agreement was overturned and we now receive the penalty rates
we are entitled to as per the law. This has obviously had a big impact on me as a full time student and has taken some of the
stress out of paying bills and getting by.
I recently had the opportunity to participate in an enquiry into unfair workplace agreements similar to that which I was
employed under at Morgan’s IGA. I was able to talk of my experiences in the workplace and with RAFFWU in front of a panel.
This experience was very informative and I felt like I was able to help make a change. The witness account given by myself
and the other members present has hopefully helped to influence the introduction of a bill that would stop companies from
introducing agreements that infringe upon worker’s legal rights and wage minimums.
Senate Hears The Truth About Billions of
Dollars in Stolen Penalty Rates
This year has seen three separate Senate Inquiries into
penalty rates and how our wages have been stolen by
the big end of town. In May, members from Coles and
McDonald’s presented to the Corporate Avoidance of
the Fair Work Act Inquiry. In August, members from
Coles, IGA, Myer, Woolworths and Bakers Delight
presented to the Penalty Rates Inquiry and the Pay
Protection Bill Inquiry.
The evidence was clear. Dodgy deals, including old
zombie agreements, cost low paid retail and fast food
workers billions of dollars. Despite this, both major
parties refuse to act. Despite all the rhetoric, they have
even left the zombie agreements in place. At Domino’s
Pizza, a 12 year old deal costs every casual delivery
driver at least $3 per hour. Hungry Jacks in Victoria
uses an expired 18 year old agreement to strip penalty
rates and other conditions. At Coles, Woolworths,
McDonald’s and many more, we know more than 2
out of 3 workers are being paid less than the Award
minimum wages.
Following our campaign the Greens have proposed
legislation which would guarantee no worker earns
less than the wage they would earn under the relevant
Award. This seems simple because it is. 400 000 retail
and fast food workers would get a pay rise overnight
because they would earn the minimum Award wages
for the first time! We know that when the major parties
stick together it’s workers who lose out and we’re
going to keep up our fight to take back our penalty
rates. Contact us to get bumper stickers and flyers in
our Taking Back Our Penalty Rates campaign.
Women Leading the
Fight at Bakers Delight
By Georgia Hovey, member at
Bakers Delight
I’m in year 12 this year and I
have been working at Bakers
Delight for three years now. Prior
to the beginning of this year, my fellow employees and I
all believed we were casual workers. We found out this
year we were employed under an EBA and that we were
permanent part-time employees who weren’t getting
leave entitlements. Our agreement stripped penalty
rates, and we were earning less than what we would
have earned under the award.
With the Union’s help, guidance and hard work, I applied
to Fair Work to have our agreement terminated. I could
not have done it without RAFFWU. So many people that
I was working with were scared—I tried to get other
employees involved in what I was doing and to stand
up to our employers, but too many of them were scared
that they were going to be treated the way I was. The
agreement was terminated. For working eight hours a
week, I am now earning 10.80% more than I was, and
I’m also accruing annual and sick leave.

4. Building RAFFWU
Solidarity supporters are a special group of supporters who contribute financially on a monthly basis to our
work. Their support has been instrumental in the Union’s early stages to ensure we are professional, robust and
member led. We encourage all those who are not eligible to become a member to consider supporting our work as
a solidarity supporter and you can sign up at www.raffwu.org.au/solidarity_supporter_monthly
By Janet Burstall, Solidarity Supporter
I passionately believe the world would be a better place for everyone if the people who did the work were the ones who made the
decisions, and not the company directors. We need retail and fast food workers to give us access to food, drink and basic necessities.
Many are working for large corporations, including the two biggest employers in the country, Wesfarmers and Woolworths, who
squeeze staff in the competition for profits to pay dividends to shareholders.
I am a student of political economy, a retired public sector union delegate and a socialist. I want to use my knowledge and
experience to support RAFF workers to become good delegates, and to develop RAFFWU as a democratic accountable union that
builds self-confidence of workers to take industrial as well as political action for their interests against employers.
As a delegate my priority was solidarity. I got to know people in all different sections of my workplace, circulated news bulletins,
with stories of local, sector and union issues and information about workers’ rights. We met to make decisions together,
democratically. Delegates need to be well-informed about EBAs and industrial rights, patient, committed and brave about standing
up to management. Sometimes it seems slow between successes, but standing up for what’s right always feels right.
We Turn Up The Heat
On Domino’s Pizza
In August we exposed that
Domino’s Pizza uses a set of 26
separate enterprise agreements
to pay more than ten thousand
workers less than they would
earn under the Fast Food Industry Award. All the
agreements are more than 8 years old – and almost
all delivery drivers are employed as casual workers
under a 12 year old deal which pays no penalty rates,
no casual loading and cuts the minimum shift length
to 2 hours.
On August 18, member Casey Salt stepped up and
applied to terminate the rotten 2005 deal. The
application is heard on 1 November 2017. At the same
time, RAFFWU is bargaining for a new deal for those
members who have appointed us as their bargaining
representative. That deal would cover all Domino’s
Pizza franchises that participated in the agreement.
We know that the dodgy rotten deals currently in
place cost workers about $50 million per year in lost
minimum wages. Casey is leading the charge to take
back our penalty rates and secure a fairer agreement
for all Domino’s Pizza workers.
Contact Us
/RAFFWU contact@raffwu.org.au www.raffwu.org.au 1300 RAFFWU (1300 723 398)
Join at www.raffwu.org.au/membership
Donations to building our union are welcome – email treasurer@raffwu.org.au
Authorised by Josh Cullinan, 537 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy North, 3068
Catching Up with
On The Run
By Michael Johnstone, Organiser
and Committee Member at
Woolworths
Imagine working a night shift
and getting paid the same as
someone who works a day shift. You would be outraged
no doubt, but this is the reality for workers employed in
South Australia’s largest private employer called On The
Run (OTR). A chain of 135 family owned and run service
stations that have swept over the state to the point that
if you’re driving down the road and see a service station,
there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to be an OTR
service station.
We now know that the success of the company is built
on the backs of low paid South Australian workers. The
company are using all kinds of loop holes to get around
paying workers the award wages that should be the
minimum. From the unusually high use of ‘traineeships’
which see workers earn less than minimum award rates
for the industry, to the use of old Howard era agreements
that cut and slash workers shift loadings for working
unsociable hours.
There is great news though, workers have had enough
and are starting to come together in their union, the
Retail and Fast Food Workers Union. We are working
with them to build the union in OTR, and will fight with
them to ensure the return of respect and dignity to the
workers of OTR.