Living wage for retail workers: union campaign begins in Tauranga

Union members sign a banner to support campaign for living wage for retail workers. Photo/George Novak

Retail workers walked off the job in Tauranga today to support a union campaign for a living wage of $22.55 an hour for retail workers.

First Union said Tauranga and Whakatāne were the first of 58 stops around New Zealand over the next two months in its "Worth It" campaign.

The campaign also called on employers to give workers enough hours to live on and increase pay rates with the minimum wage.

Today more than 150 union members from local branches of big chain stores including The Warehouse and Countdown attended the stop-work meeting at Tauranga Racecourse.

They signed a big banner that will travel with the campaign.

The union's general secretary Dennis Maga said the retail industry undervalued workers and many struggled to make ends meet.