Some staff at prominent clothing chain H&M walked off the job today as a dispute over pay escalates.
As part of a months-long negotiation over a collective agreement, staff from two Auckland stores are demanding to be paid the living wage.
This afternoon, about 20 workers and FIRST Union representatives gathered outside the Swedish retailer’s flagship store in Commercial Bay in downtown Auckland.
MacKenzie O'Sullivan, a showroom intern at H&M, told 1 NEWS that since Covid-19 understaffing has been an issue at stores, and that it was putting pressure and stress on staff who were expected to do the same amount of work.
O'Sullivan said a living wage would mean not having to live paycheck to paycheck.
“Rather than just continuing to survive, we actually get to live."
Optometry retailer OPSM and clothing giant H&M are under the spotlight. (Source: Other)
Union organiser Nathalie Jaques said the chain was happy to present itself as an “ethical and responsible employer” but that isn’t the reality.
“There's nothing ethical or responsible about poverty wages,” she said.
Jaques said the collective agreement remains unsigned, even after multiple negotiation attempts.
She said many H&M workers remained “barely above the minimum wage” as living costs continued to rise.
Jaques said the global retailer had said raising wages was not in its financial interest.
She pushed back on that, however, and said paying people the living wage was “the right thing to do”.
The second largest fashion retailer in the world should have enough money to pay people decent wages, she added.
"These are young and enthusiastic workers whose jobs in retail simply aren’t living up to the hype of what the company promised them,” she said.
“They are underpaid and understaffed, and despite wage subsidies and massive profits, H&M don’t want to pay them a cent more than the absolute minimum.
"H&M will ask them to work on the frontline during a pandemic but doesn’t think they are worth a living wage. That’s an employer telling their staff that their wellbeing is of no value whatsoever and they are disposable as the products they sell."
H&M hasn't yet responded to 1 NEWS’ requests for comment.
In April , FIRST Union said H&M staff who were pushing for a living wage were suspended from work.
The union reported in 2019 that unionised workers at H&M were locked out after wearing stickers that supported their wage claims in stores.
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