Strike! Sealed Air workers have had enough

About 85 members at Sealed Air Packaging Porirua will take strike action starting tonight as the employer has refused to make a reasonable offer during ongoing negotiations.

E tū union lead organiser Mark James said that workers had had enough, and are to take action against the American-owned company for two weeks by having an overtime ban and a data entry ban.

“If the issue is still unresolved in a fortnight the workers are quite happy to take further action,” Mr James said.

The workers are seeking pay parity as they are paid less that others doing the same job in Wellington. They seek a similar pay rise to what Sealed Air workers have achieved in plants in Australia.

“The company think they can treat their New Zealand employees like second-class citizens, but the workers aren’t having any of it,” Mr James said.

“All we want is a bit of fairness. There’s no excuse for paying these workers any less than others working in the same industry.”

The action will commence at 10 pm tonight.

ENDS

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