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PROTESTS were held in towns and cities across Australia today to demand a pay rise for workers at Harvey Norman, the country’s leading retailer.
The company, which employs some 2.2 million workers, has seen its profits more than double in the last six months, while lobbyists for the store chain press for real-terms wage cuts.
Anger grew after company chairman Gerry Harvey called the coronavirus pandemic “an opportunity.”
Harvey Norman’s profits doubled soared by 116 per cent to 462 million Australian dollars (£252m) at a time when retail workers were being made to wait an extra seven months for last year’s 1.75 per cent wage rise.
The company has refused to pay back some 22 million dollars (£12m) received from a government scheme that subsidised the wages of workers at businesses affected by the pandemic.
Australian Confederation of Trade Unions (ACTU) general secretary Sally McManus called on Harvey Norman to “step up” and give workers a 69 cent an hour rise.
“Prime Minister [Scott] Morrison must also stop supporting big business calls for real wage cuts. What the economy needs now is people with money to spend,” she said.
