BOOKSELLERS STRIKE FOR 5-DAYS INTO CHRISTMAS

On Saturday 20 December workers at Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books bookstores represented by the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) in bargaining will commence a 5-day strike leading into Christmas.

RAFFWU members have been negotiating with Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books for a new agreement to replace their expired 13-year-old rotten zombie cafe agreement. That expired deal cuts conditions and wages – below the Award minimum. Most booksellers for over a decade have experienced casualised part-time work with no casual loading and aren’t paid penalty rates on evenings and Saturdays.

Despite 6 bargaining meetings across the past 3 months, the employers refuse to guarantee workers basic job security and fair treatment protections – let alone a fair agreement with living wages.

Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books workers have been left with no choice but to take serious action – strikes and bans in pursuit of the agreement they deserve.

RAFFWU members first went on strike last Saturday 13 December, attracting a crowd of 150 supporters at a rally outside Berkelouw Books Leichhardt on Norton Street.

Industrial action in the form of a 5-day strike leading into Christmas from Saturday 20 December until Wednesday 24 December will take place across all Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books stores.

A range of bans are already being implemented by RAFFWU members who are represented by RAFFWU in bargaining. Those bans include a ban on restocking shelves, receiving deliveries, and meetings with management other than bargaining meetings. Workers are also interrupting work to distribute union campaign materials to customers.

Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books have responded by issuing workers with unilateral wage cuts of 37.77% for participating in the bans. In response, RAFFWU has announced a special Welfare Fund to raise funds for workers. We call on the community to support workers already paid below the Award minimum targeted by the pay cuts. All the detail for the fund is here: https://chuffed.org/project/hhbb

Quotes attributable to Ally Bodnaruk, RAFFWU Delegate:

We aren’t striking because we want to. We love books and our community. But we can’t keep going under this old agreement when we’re juggling multiple jobs just to survive and living with constant

Passion for books doesn’t pay the rent. We want to secure jobs, fair treatment and to be paid a living wage.

Quotes attributable to Loukas Kakogiannis, Secretary of RAFFWU:

For over a decade, Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books workers have been held on a rotten expired zombie café agreement that cuts minimum Award conditions. That agreement casualises part-time work and cuts penalty rates on evenings and Saturdays.

Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books should be selling Dickens, not living it.

These workers aren’t asking for the world, they want job security, a living wage with penalty rates, and protections against unfair treatment. These are basic rights that all workers deserve.

Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books were forced to the bargaining table, kicking and screaming, because an overwhelming majority of workers were fed up with their cut-rate conditions.

We call on Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books to stop being recalcitrant, stop their attacks on workers and come to the table with a fair offer.

Fair working conditions and liveable wage should not be shelved in fiction.

For media comment, Loukas Kakogiannis at 0412 779 360 or lkakogiannis@raffwu.org.au