Fast food zero-hour backdown welcomed

VICTORY: McDonald's employee Fiona Thompson (front) and Unite union members and supporters celebrate the end of zero-hour contracts outside Whangarei's Bank St restaurant. PHOTO/MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

Kaiwaka woman Fiona Thompson is a solo mother supporting two children, has a mortgage, is three papers away from finishing a business degree extramurally and is making ends meet on a McDonald's wage.

But she was never guaranteed a full roster of hours each week, and as part of nationwide action had organised a picket outside Whangarei McDonald's yesterday in protest at the company's zero-hours contracts.

Zero-hours mean workers are required to be available for work but are not guaranteed any hours of work.

So Ms Thompson was relieved when McDonald's backed down late on Thursday night.

She had looked at her roster sometimes and cried due to the lack of hours. While her manager tried to accommodate her request for 40 hours a week, she struggled to keep the household afloat when she was given anything less than that.

"You only have to give me a roster with 35 hours on it and I'm starting to worry," she said.

Food was the first of her weekly bills to be cut when money was tight, with baked beans the staple in tough weeks.

The McDonald's deal means that from July 1, workers will be guaranteed 80 per cent of their hours worked over the previous three months, and a survey on hours worked will be done every three months, meaning secure hours will be able to increase over time.

The company and Unite union will review the clause in March next year. The union said both sides now accepted the changes would lead to greater security and regularity around rostered shifts.

Outside McDonald's Bank St yesterday, union members and supporters waved "Thank You" banners, with passing cars tooting support.

Ms Thompson said the insecurity of hours at McDonald's left the mainly young and migrant workforce vulnerable.

"The fact that you have to be reliant on the whim of your manager, it's quite a gross abuse of the system," she said.

"It's [McDonald's] run by workers, and we need the workers to feel supported if the business is to run efficiently."

Ms Thompson said the number of hours she worked would remain relatively consistent with the new offer, but she wanted McDonald's to offer a full-time roster of 40 hours a week to people who wanted it. Managers knew the patterns of their stores well enough to be able to work out a roster to suit their employees and business, she said.

Albert Barr, convener of Unions Northland, was thrilled with the decision by McDonald's and hoped it and the community support would send a message to other organisations and the Government that zero hours "wasn't the Kiwi way".

He said district health boards were among several other organisations nationwide which had zero-hours contracts, and he called on Workplace Relations Minister Michael Woodhouse to legislate against them.