Kiwi Ice Cream Workers Join the DWU

Previously non union sites sign up

By Mark Apiata-Wade

Kiwi Ice Cream is a small privately owned Company with its Factory based in Takapuna and with an outlet shop and distribution centre in East Tamaki.

Workers from both sites joined the Union last year to seek our assistance in negotiating their first ever Collective Employment Agreement. An excellent job was done by Wendy Te Huia, the Site Delegate, in organising and signing up to the Union 14 out of the 20 workers who work at both sites. A very good number considering the sites have been in Auckland for 10 years as a Greenfields or non-union.

A Collective was negotiated and ratified, which was very complex as workers were on a range of Individual Agreements with varying pay rates for jobs of similar skills. We now have a Collective that in having to formulate departmental and grading skills in which workers could see a fairer and more logical pay system, this meant for this first Agreement variable increases. For this reason, we only agreed to a 7 month term, which is due to be renegotiated this July.

We were also able to achieve Union Rights clauses, agreed minimum hours of work, an overtime/additional day allowance, the bargaining fee and a large number of smaller tidy-ups.

The key gain in these negotiations was the unionising of the workers around getting a fair and easy to read Collective Agreement where workers doing the same or similar jobs get the same pay rate - this most unionised workers in Collectives take for granted.