7-Eleven: Carlton store shut down for an hour!
UNITE held another action outside a 7-Eleven store in Carlton yesterday. The store, which was located very close to Melbourne University, was successfully blockaded for an hour.
UNITE was protesting against 7-Eleven’s employment practices which include underpaying staff and asking people to work on trial without wages.
Hundreds of leaflets were handed out to university students as they left campus and thousands more are being letterboxed in the area. Yet again the UNITE information stall was more popular than the 7-Eleven counter.
Two international students who worked at 7-Eleven stores in the outer suburbs approached the stall to get more information about the campaign. Several more students took information for their friends who were working for 7-Eleven.
The response to our campaign is getting better with every action and this has been reflected in the amount of people ringing and emailing in to our office.
UNITE organisers have made it clear to 7-Eleven head office that the actions will continue on a regular basis until they make a proper commitment to stop breaking the law.
They have been asked to sign a ‘Charter of Workplace Rights’ for their staff and to sit down with UNITE to sort through the problems that exist. So far this has not happened.
On top of the regular actions, currently we are developing plans to target 7-Eleven on November 7. This is a day when a free Slurpee is given to any customer that says “happy 7-Eleven day” to one of the workers.
Unless 7-Eleven meets our demands we will ensure that their big promotional day is totally ruined.