Distribution centre workers at Brand Developers TV Shop are entering their third day of strike action at the popular advertorial company with one worker warning Christmas deliveries may not reach customers unless company owner Paul Meier returns to the negotiating table with a pay offer better than the minimum wage.
“We’re into day three now which means Christmas deliveries are well behind. The longer Meier leaves this the longer customers are going to have to wait,” said a distribution centre worker who did not wish to be named for fear of management reprisals.
Brand Developers TV Shop supplies popular advertorial brands like the Transforma ladder, Bambillo pillow and Thin Lizzy makeup.
“We’ve been in negotiations for a year and a half and Meier is still withholding a fair pay rise for the workforce. The people here just want a Christmas where they don’t have to budget on the minimum wage,” said FIRST Union organiser Kate Davis.
“How close do we have to get to Christmas before Meier does the decent thing and settles an agreement with fair pay?”
“Meier expects distribution centre workers and the call centre workers to survive on little more than the minimum wage. Many of our members have gone years without a pay rise. People here are so fed up that after the distribution centre workers started their strike yesterday morning that the call centre workers walked off the job in solidarity too. The company was paralysed for the day.”
“As the owner Meier is creaming it, but the people who do the work of selling and moving the company brands are struggling to make ends meet.”
