Earlier this year Unite negotiated a new agreement with Burger King which gave staff some gains in pay and security of hours. Burger King, however, is doing everything possible to ensure that remuneration stays as low as possible. In early April members received a letter stating the following.

Dear, XXXX, As a Kiwisaver member, from 1st of April 2009, you will be receiving a 2% Employer contribution to your KiwiSaver scheme as part of your rate. Please note that KiwiSaver Employer contributions form part of your total package and as such has been factored into any rate increase. Therefore your existing pay rate/s remain the same. We would like to thank you for your contribution to the company and look forward to another successful year ahead as we continue to develop and grow.

This means that staff who are meant to be on $12.75 per hour have been put on the minimum rate of $12.50 to allow for the company’s input into Kiwisaver. No other major company that we deal with is doing this. BK is thanking staff for their contribution by taking money off them to pay for the Employer Kiwisaver contributions.

Unite raised this issue with BK’s Head Office and got the following response from them:

The TPF Restaurants approach to Employer Contributions for Kiwi Saver is that they are part of an individual's Total Remuneration. As such Kiwi Saver contributions are factored into people's salary packages including any salary increases. All staff were advised of this in writing last year. This approach is necessary to ensure we are being fair and transparent with Non Kiwi Saver members.

So Unite responded:

The approach to consider Kiwisaver contributions as part of "total remuneration" is not consistent with the collective employment agreement which applies to Unite members. Should the company have wished to use this approach to Kiwisaver then this should have been raised for discussion in negotiations. The company is required to apply pay increases to members as per the contract. For those of our members who are in Kiwisaver or who subsequently join the scheme the company must make its contribution as per the legislation but not deduct this from pay increases agreed in the contract. We would appreciate your confirmation that company contributions will not come from pay increases due to our members.

We are looking forward to the company’s forth-coming reply and will pursue this matter until it is fixed, including backdated pay to those who have lost out on their correct pay increase. We are also following up on GSE and Team Elite entitlements, as we have believe there could be cases in which the appropriate rates are not being paid.