1. History
    Initial action  Coles Supermarkets  Domino's Pizza  McDonald's 

2. References

The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) is an Australian trade union, covering workers in the retail and fast food industries.

Formed in late 2016, RAFFWU was established as a response to increased dissatisfaction with the existing Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA). The union is critical of a number of aspects of the SDA, which covers the same industries as RAFFWU and one of the largest trade unions in the country. Some of these practices include the negotiation of workplace agreements which reduced wages below Award rates,^[1] the former's ongoing affiliation with the Labor Right faction, its socially conservative stances towards abortion^[2] and same-sex marriage,^{[3] [4] [5] [6]} as well as its perceived "undemocratic" and "top-down" nature.

RAFFWU instead claims to be "member-driven", "fighting discrimination in all its forms". RAFFWU is considered a left-wing union. Its inaugural Secretary is Josh Cullinan, who has over 15 years' experience with unionism and worker representation. ^[7]

History

Initial action

RAFFWU was initially involved in terminating expired enterprise and Workchoices era agreements covering Baker's Delight employees, elevating those affected to the modern award and restoring minimum rates of pay and other entitlements.^[8]

In a similar move, RAFFWU has also terminated expired agreements at several IGA supermarkets.^[9]

Coles Supermarkets

Following RAFFWU's success with the [https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/decisionssigned/html/2016fwcfb2887.htm Hart decision] in which the Fair Work Commission rejected the 2014 EBA due to its failure to pass the [https://www.fwc.gov.au/awards-and-agreements/agreements/approval-process#field-content-4-heading better off overall test] or "BOOT" ^[10] that an agreement must meet when compared to the relevant award. With the 2014 agreement rejected, Coles employees were reverted to the 2011 agreement but with an undertaking by Coles that the 2014 base rate of pay would not be decreased. ^[11] RAFFWU's first negotiations for a new enterprise agreement began with serving claims on Coles Supermarkets for the return of all General Retail Award minimum rights such as penalty loadings during unsociable hours that were stripped in prior agreements and an understanding that it would not accept any agreement that was inferior to the award.

These negotiations were put to a halt when in May 2017 a self-represented Coles night fill worker, applied to the Fair Work Commission to have the 2011 agreement terminated on the same basis as the 2014 agreement as it was alleged to also contain similar below-award levels of pay. ^[12] During this commission process Coles revealed that up to 60% of its workforce would be better off under the minimum rates of the award structure than the 2011 agreement, despite this admission, both the SDA and the AWU assisted Coles in its defence of the agreement. ^[13] The termination was settled in November 2017 with Coles agreeing to fast-track a vote on a newly proposed enterprise agreement including the return of all award penalty rates to be paid between the period of a successful vote and the agreement taking effect. Despite having been underpaid, due to the settlement of the case outside of the Commission, workers would not be entitled to back pay for the period underpaid. ^[14]

With a ballot held in February 2018, RAFFWU encouraged its members to vote against the agreement. ^[15] It raised concerns over concessions made by the SDA including that it didn't require back pay for any period prior that was underpaid, that by saving the existing base rate for current employees and paying new employees just 55¢ above the minimum wage would create a two-tiered workforce and throw the security of existing employees into jeopardy as well as locking in future changes and mirroring award penalty rates that were scheduled to lower on July 1st 2018 ^[16], despite the SDA's public campaign against these cuts to penalty rates by the Fair Work Commission.

On the 26th of February the vote was successful with an approval rating of 90% despite only 48,000 or just 61% of the Coles workforce turning out to vote. The agreement included a $475 sign-on payment for full-time workers, pro-rated for part-time employees. RAFFWU continued to raise further concerns that the agreement included provisions for "standing consent" for part-time employees to work additional hours and to be paid at the ordinary rate rather than the applicable overtime rate. It also suggested that by incorporating the $1.50 laundry allowance into the hourly rate, that new employees would effectively only be receiving an additional 5¢ per hour on the minimum wage. ^[17]

Despite these concerns, the agreement was approved in April 2018 by the Fair Work Commission with RAFFWU Secretary Josh Cullinan commenting that "It has taken a long time but we are delighted that workers will start seeing the benefits of our campaign. We believe the agreement should have been better but there is substantial improvement". ^[18]

In August 2018 it was reported that Coles employees working unsociable hours have seen rises in their take home pay of up to 20% or between $100 - $150 per week, due to the "scrapping of the cosy [SDA] union deal" that did not require Coles to pay the applicable penalty rates in the past. ^[19]

Domino's Pizza

In August 2017, a Domino's Pizza delivery driver, and RAFFWU member, applied to terminate the multiple expired enterprise agreements that covered those employed by Domino's Pizza within Australia.^[20]

Under these agreements, delivery drivers weren't paid a casual loading, penalty rates and received a driving allowance that was less than required under the Fast Food Award^[21].^[20] With a decision handed down in November 2017, by the Fair Work Commission, that approved the termination of the agreements, Domino's employees were to be elevated to the award within 12 weeks of the decision.^[22] During that time, negotiations began between Domino's and bargaining representatives from the SDA for a new national enterprise agreement that was slated for a vote by employees in early January 2018.

By excluding RAFFWU from the negotiation process, this vote was delayed by the FWC to ensure "good faith bargaining practices" were met and that RAFFWU was included in the negotiation process.^[23] With the new agreement passed overwhelmingly by employees through an electronic ballot, the agreement was returned to the FWC for approval. RAFFWU raised concerns about the proposal to sacrifice regular start and finish times for part-time workers, effectively casualising them without an additional loading, as well as concerns about how the vote was conducted and the inclusion of all eligible employees in the vote itself. It also objected to the agreed 2¢ per hour increase on the minimum wage.

Finally in what was described by RAFFWU as "a face saving exercise" in March 2018, the agreement was abandoned and withdrawn by Domino's with them instead deciding to continue to cover their employees under the Fast Food Award, that throughout this period since January had been the industrial instrument covering its Australian employees.^[24]

McDonald's

In late December 2018 and January 2019, RAFFWU began a major campaign in improving McDonald's workers conditions. The campaign revolved around the company's unlawful denial of employees' 10-minute breaks.^[25] Several McDonald's stores claimed that workers could either access drinking and toilet facilities at this time or take their allocated break. The union responded that this contravened the negotiated agreement, and that workers had the right to drink water or go to the toilet whenever they wished.

Following threats by management at McDonald's Tantex,^[26] RAFFWU organised a "historic" protest in front of the Myers Centre McDonald's in Brisbane, demanding the "basic human right" that is drinking water.^[27]

References

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• List of Ouachita Baptist University social clubs
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• List of Our Gang films
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