Pizza Delivery Is NOT An Essential Service – Unite Union
Unite Union today called for Pizza shops, other takeaways and non-essential retailers to be told they need to close.
Dominoes have announced they will remain open delivery and have even turned the announcement into a publicity stunt, offering free pizza to the elderly. We are hearing reports that Hell Pizzas intend to continue operating and staff told they must show up to work.
There will be marginal calls as to what is “essential”. This is not one of them.
The rules are actually clear:
“Any entity involved in the supply, delivery, distribution and sale of food, beverage and other key consumer goods essential for maintaining the wellbeing of people, but not takeaway shops”
https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/
Firstly these are clearly takeaway shops. Just shifting to delivery only cannot be a way around that, otherwise every restaurant and takeaway could just convert to delivery only and keep operating. That would be a disaster.
Pizzas are clearly not essential for maintaining the wellbeing of people. Supermarkets are open and there are plenty of ready to eat options available (including fresh and frozen pizzas that just need to be heated).
What they are proposing is socially irresponsible, a danger to workers and undermines the lockdown.
It will be almost impossible to maintain proper protections and social distancing in a pizza kitchen. We have many complaints normally about food and worker safety in Pizza shops and have very little confidence that the heightened and very prescriptive needs during this crisis will be met consistently. They may try and claim they offer contactless delivery, but for every pizza delivered a number of staff have to work together.
In the interests of the whole country they should use the government subsidy to pay their staff their normal pay and send them home during the crisis. We can eat pizza later.
If they flout the lockdown they should be closed, prosecuted and their right to continue operating in New Zealand revoked.
Personally would be preferring packaged food that you cook yourself in case of risk of Covid 19 transmission from the restaurant and delivery workers. Imagine how many people could be infected from one restaurant worker rolling out pizza’s 24/7!
We could be in the middle of an apocalyptic nuclear conflagration and some opportunistic vulture would try to make a few bucks out of it. Anyone flouting the law around this should get a visit from the authorities and a hefty fine. Not one of those slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket fines, I’m talking serious financial damage here. Your workers are not expendable. Your shitty pizza shop is. You’re big enough to absorb the temporary halt in revenue generation. Fuck off and sort yourselves out.
I see they have now closed .Well done this is the power of the union used to the advantage of the it’s members.
I remember as a child born just after the war there were shops my parents would not go in because they had not played fair with customers during the war . Those that try to make an extra dollar from this crisis should be named and shamed