New Zealand : TV Shop workers strike for better pay and secure hours
TV Shop workers protested in masks outside their
Workers for retailer TV Shop went on strike on Saturday morning for better pay and work hours.
TV Shop, which is a trading name for Brand Developers, is known for infomercials selling products like the Bambillo Pillow, Transforma Ladder and Thin Lizzie makeup.
It is owned by Paul Meier, the former business partner of television personality Suzanne Paul.
Businessman Paul Meier is the owner of Brand Developers, which also trades as TV Shop.
First Union has been in negotiations with TV Shop since July last year and organiser Kate Davis said workers were fed up with the amount of pay, insecurity of hours and no redundancy package.
READ MORE: TV Shop fined over Transforma ladder claims
"The TV Shop is creaming it, but the people who do the work of selling and moving its brands are expected to survive on little more than the minimum wage and a roster that changes from week to week," Davis said.
"Many of our members have gone years without a pay rise. Many of them see their hours change week to week on nothing more than a manager's whim."
The company has been in hot water in recent years over the Transforma Ladder, which was pulled from sale in 2013 after a Commerce Commission investigation into the ladder's safety.
Last year, TV Shop was fined $153,000 for wrongly claiming the ladder could carry 180 kilograms and sold ladders in breach of an Unsafe Goods notice that prohibited their sale.
Brand Developers has been approached for comment.
- Stuff
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