Instead, Cullinan said the union campaign had restored morale in the bookstore “after years of decline.”
RAFFWU is also in the final stages of negotiating with Readings, a medium-sized bookstore in Melbourne, he said. “We are working with members of many other small, medium and large companies to unionize and negotiate agreements.”
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Small businesses employ almost half of Australian workers, but most are not unionized, with wages and conditions generally set by the award.
Executive Director of the Council of Small Business Organizations of Australia, Alexi Boyd, said workers joining unions “are not something our members have raised as a concern”.
“Ultimately, small businesses want to take care of workers,” he said.
Boyd said small business owners had a hard time navigating the premium system. “What’s best for small businesses is the simplicity that will ultimately improve compliance.”
Cullinan said small businesses had “nothing to fear” from workers who unionized and negotiated business agreements.
With a tight job market, Cullinan said a higher-skilled employer will often attract employees.
“For an employer that is marketed on the basis of progressivity, there is an implicit benefit in providing truly progressive and sector-leading leadership requirements to workers,” he said.
The agreement between the union and Better Read comes as Australia’s top retail and hospitality bodies joined medical experts and the trade union movement in calling on the federal government to reintroduce a COVID sick leave safety net at as cases increase.
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RAFFWU was founded in 2016 following a nationwide wage scandal centered on the Conservative Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association’s labor agreements with big employers like Coles, Woolworths and McDonald’s.
Cullinan said the “shoppies” union was for the bosses, while the RAFFWU was for the workers.
“SDA tried to negotiate wage relief agreements with small and medium-sized businesses in an attempt to replicate what it had achieved with large companies,” he said.