Bunnings workers dispute $6 pay gap

Hundreds of Bunnings Warehouse employees around the country will stop work for two hours today over a $6 an hour pay gap with their Australian counterparts.

Workers from several of the Auckland hardware stores will hold a rally at the company's Mt Wellington head office while Wellington workers will meet Green MP Sue Bradford at Parliament and deliver a message to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd via the Australian Embassy.

Stopwork meetings are also being held in Whangarei, Whangamata, Hamilton, Whakatane, Gisbourne, Rotorua and Christchurch.

National Distribution Union national secretary Laila Harre said Kiwi workers at Bunnings, which is owned by Australia's richest company, Wesfarmers, started on $NZ12.00 an hour while their co-workers across the ditch started on a union rate of $NZ18.44 an hour which would increase to $NZ19 an hour in July.

"It's not as if Bunnings charge customers less here and their employees have a similar cost of living in both countries," she said.

- NZPA