Country Road Exec Spoke On Ethical Fashion Panel While Company’s Own Workers Protested
Workers allege they are paid as much as $10 lower than others doing the same job at another warehouse.
Country Road factory workers have staged a fair pay protest in Melbourne’s CBD as a senior executive for the company, ironically, participated in an ethical fashion panel at Melbourne Fashion Week on Wednesday.
The Country Road Group (the parent company of major brands including Country Road, Witchery, Mimco, Politix, and Trenery) is particularly vocal on the topic of ethical fashion and supply chains, making a point to stand up against the exploitative fast fashion practices that run rampant in the industry.
“We’re committed to upholding high social, ethical and environmental standards in the supply chain, as well as empowering marginalised artisans through Mimco’s long-term partnership with the Ethical Fashion Initiative,” the CRG website reads.
However, employees at the group’s Melbourne dispatch warehouse have accused the company of underpaying its largely female warehouse workforce by as much as $10 an hour.
According to protesters, the 150 staff members at the facility — most of whom are female — are paid up to $10 less per hour than the workers across the road at the Hanes Bonds warehouse, despite doing the same job. The difference, they argue, is the Hanes Bonds workers are predominantly male.
Following a strike outside the company’s flagship store in South Yarra on Monday, workers took to the CBD to protest outside the Bourke St David Jones store — which stocks CRG brands — at the same time as a high-ranking executive was scheduled to appear at Fashion Week.
According to The Guardian, the female workers at CRG’s warehouse had their job security threatened if they took part in the protests.
“Several insecure workers reported to officials that their jobs had been threatened if they participated in industrial action,” United Workers Union logistics coordinator Mick Power told The Guardian. “Examples include dictatorial Amazon-esque announcements made in staff meetings.
“I have worked with some antagonistic bosses in the past, but the behaviour displayed towards workers at Country Road Group by managers is frankly disgraceful.”
Country Road Is Furious
According to a statement provided to The Guardian, Country Road Group has always paid staff above award wages and the current offer is 11 percent higher than the Fair Work Minimum — including a 2.7 percent annual increase for the next three years.
In a statement provided to Junkee, Country Road Group slammed the UWU, accusing the union of having “false and baseless allegations”.
“Regrettably, the UWU has responded to a fair and reasonable process by attempting to publicly discredit our brands and team members with false and baseless allegations. The United Workers Union has also engaged in activity designed to bully and intimidate team members who want to attend work,” Country Road said in a statement to Junkee.
“We support the right of our distribution centre team members to take industrial action but cannot condone these activities and are clear on our responsibilities. We believe that fairness and sustainability in delivering wage growth will in turn support welfare and future opportunities for our entire team.”
Country Road has been quick to criticise “illegal picket lines” for being unfair to staff and disrespectful of the process. “Illegal picket lines have prevented our people from working and impacted the rights of our team. These actions are manifestly unfair to our team and we call on the UWU to respect the bargaining process.”
But The Union Doesn’t Agree
The UWU has maintained that Country Road — which pays its warehouse staff between $22.52 and $24.34 an hour — is not doing enough to ensure staff are able to make ends meet. “Country Road workers are working for a company that is extremely profitable and has become more profitable in the last 24 months,” UWU organiser Mick Power told SmartCompany last week.
“But they’re also earning just above the minimum wage, and a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet.”
Country Road refuted this, asserting that the company is working to deliver “sustainable wage growth”.
“Country Road Group is working to deliver fair and sustainable wage growth to our distribution team and has always paid wages above the industry award rate set by the Fair Work Commission. We are deeply aware that our team like many in the community have been going through a challenging and difficult time and we are committed to supporting them with sustainable wage increases and a strong value proposition across every aspect of their work life.
“Over the past 12 months we have been in negotiation with our team’s representatives to agree on wage increases every year for the next three years through the EBA process. Our offer is 11 percent higher than the award rate set by the Fair Work Commission and provides a 2.7 percent annual pay increase for the next three years. This process reflects our principles of fairness, flexibility and sustainability and follows open and transparent consultation with our team.
“We are proud of our workplace culture and are deeply committed to treating all our team members with fairness, dignity and respect. Country Road Group has strong female representation at every level of our business, including throughout our leadership and management teams. We are an equal opportunity employer, pay our team fairly and do not condone any type of discrimination based on gender or otherwise.”
Junkee has reached out to UWU for further comment.