Supermarket/Grocery Fair Pay Agreement

The latest on Supermarket/Grocery Fair Pay

MBIE has approved the Grocery Supermarket Industry Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) application to progress to the next stage. Read the proposed coverage in this agreement to understand if you are impacted or not.

At a high level the key things you need to know are:

MBIE has provided clarification of the industry being covered: in which a business unit(s) are engaged in retailing ALL the following categories – groceries and non-specialised food lines, fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat including fresh poultry, bread and other baked products and household non-food items.
This application then covers 25 roles within this industry.
The advocacy work of Retail NZ has achieved exclusions to this FPA. This means that the grocery supermarket industry excludes pharmacy, hardware, and/or café operations that are situated on supermarket premises.
The proposed coverage has changed, providing clarity, and clear coverage – again an achievement of Retail NZ and its work in this space.

You can find the detailed coverage information here, further information on Fair Pay Agreements here, and our dedicated Fair Pay team is available to discuss the implications for your business.

Employer Responsibilities

If you are a Supermarket/Grocery business owner, you have obligations with regards to FPA legislation.

Required Actions

Action 1:
Ensure all your employees (union and non-union members) have received the information pack from First Union (note the initiating union may have already sent notification to employers within the Supermarket/Grocery industry)

·        First Union Notification Letter
·        FPA Information and employee contact details sheet

Note: employees can choose to not have their details shared with the Union. They can do this by completing the ‘opt-out’ portion of the form and returning it to you. It is important to note that this will not exempt them from the FPA once it is in place. Any employees who do not choose to opt-out should have their details sent to the Union.

Action 2:
Send all employee details to the Union: All employees who haven’t opted out should have their details sent to First Union at contactdata@firstunion.org.nz  as soon as possible, as required by the Act.

You can read more about your obligations as an employer during the FPA process in our FAQ below.

Retail NZ has been confirmed as a representative on the employer bargaining side to represent and support affected members.

If you are covered by the proposed Supermarket/Grocery Fair Pay Agreement, we advise starting to collate your employees’ contact details in order to forward onto First Union.

Your employees can opt out of providing their details to the union by filling in the following form and returning it to you for secure filing:

FPA (Fair Pay Agreement) Information and employee contact details sheet