Workers campaigning for improved conditions at Newtown bookshop, Better Read Than Dead (BRTD), were locked out by their employer on July 26.
But the next day, the Retail and Fast Food Workers鈥 Union (RAFFWU) members announced they聽had聽reached an in-principle agreement with management and would return to work on July 28.
The bookshop workers聽have been fighting for an improved enterprise agreement and, on July 19, initiated protected industrial action by placing a ban on overtime, handling cash and updating window displays. This is the聽first time a retail workplace outside the meat industry has taken this type of industrial action in more than 50 years.
They decided take industrial action after BRTD management refused an agreement that sets $25 an hour as the minimum rate of pay, includes workplace safety and sexual harassment protections and job security clauses.
RAFFWU secretary Josh Cullinan told an online forum discussing the campaign on July 14 that workers were preparing to escalate their action if management did not respond positively.
As this is exactly what followed, BRTD workers put new bans on work associated with web orders.
Management then announced it was locking out the workers.
pointed to聽the hypocrisy of聽an employer, trading on 鈥減rogressive ideals鈥, to lock our workers 鈥渨ho just want secure, safe jobs鈥.
鈥淏RTD have been consistently aggressive towards their staff, shouting the bargaining team out of the room in an early meeting and firing two workers, including a bargaining team member and a store manager. [It has also been] threatening workers with cease-and-desist letters for posting a photo with the RAFFWU flag,鈥 the union said at the聽July 14 forum.
On July 27, the聽workers voted unanimously to endorse an agreement that includes: allowing聽casuals to convert聽to permanent agreements;聽a minimum four weeks consultation over major changes to the agreement;聽six weeks'聽notice of redundancy and rights to redeployment and severance pay; all workers to be classified as Retail Employee Level 3; the restoration of Sunday penalty rates; the abolition of聽junior rates;聽a base rate of pay for part-time employees of $1 more than the award minimum; a聽full suite of health and safety clauses, policies and rights; 20 days paid domestic violence leave; and 26 weeks of paid parental leave.
Cullinan told 91自拍论坛 on July 27: 鈥淓ach of these conditions is far superior to any major retail or fast-food agreement in Australia. It shows what is possible when workers organise in a fighting union and implement direct unwavering protected industrial action.鈥
The union had set up a strike fund for workers who had lost all of their income. It reached its $12,000 goal within a week but, since the lockout, the target amount was raised to $20,000. By聽July 26, it had received more than $22,000, from almost 400 donors, showing the high level of support for the BRTD workers.
[This article was updated on July 27 when the agreement became public.]