Coronavirus: Union seeks pay boost for retail staff on ‘frontline’

A union will push for temporary pay rises of up to $190 a week for thousands of essential workers in supermarkets.

Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association national secretary Gerard Dwyer.

Unions will push for temporary pay rises of up to $190 a week for hundreds of thousands of workers across supermarkets and retail outlets if the next stage of coronavirus-related shutdowns is imposed on businesses.

The shop assistants union will pursue an “essential service payment” of $5 an hour for 250,000 to 300,000 workers who it says will be at the “frontline” for at least the next six months.

Gerard Dwyer, national secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, said it was likely in coming weeks that only essential services would be allowed to continue to operate in many parts of Australia.

“As this occurs, supermarkets and some other retail outlets will be deemed by governments as ‘essential’ and required to continue to trade,” he told The Australian.

“When most of the community moves into working or staying at home, the SDA believes all frontline workers — including those at supermarkets, pharmacies, petrol stations and convenience stores — should receive an ‘essential service payment’ of $5 per hour.”

Mr Dwyer said not only would workers in these essential outlets be working harder, the conditions would be more stressful and more risky to their physical health.

“State and territory borders are already closing. The Prime Minister has foreshadowed the possibility of regions or suburbs being locked down,” he said.

“Without the efforts of these workers, in such circumstances households would find it increasingly difficult to get the food, fuel and medical supplies they need.

“These workers stand ready to serve. They deserve a small acknowledgment of the risks they would be taking to keep the community fed and healthy.”

Given the enormous jump in trade being recorded by Woolworths and Coles, the union believes the supermarket giants could fund the temporary pay rise to workers, and the government, if necessary, could fund wage increases at some smaller retailers.

Employers including IGA, FoodWorks and Mitre 10 last week called for a one-year wage freeze to be imposed on retail workers, warning that the coronavirus crisis could persist for at least 12 months.

Master Grocers Australia, which represents 4000 independent supermarkets, liquor, timber and hardware stores employing a total of 120,000 workers, said the “destructive effects” of the coronavirus, the impact of the bushfires and past annual minimum wage rises justified the pay freeze.