Grill’d workers turn heat on boss

“We are here today because we are fighting for what is right!”

Striking Grill’d workers and their supporters protested in front of the burger chain’s Rundle Street store in Adelaide on 28 June, handing out flyers explaining why they were taking action against the company. They argued to people who tried to enter the store that they should boycott Grill’d while workers struck. Would-be customers were cheered when they walked away from the restaurant’s entrance.

After a few hours of protesting, the picketers took to the streets of Adelaide. “Support Grill’d workers—don’t eat the burgers!” they chanted as they spread the word throughout the city. Many of the workers have never taken industrial action before, and were buoyed by the experience. “Look, it’s our street—Union Street”!, one quipped while marching back to the store.

The founder and CEO of Grill’d, Simon Crowe, wants to double the company’s size by 2029. Crowe, with a reported net worth of more than $450 million, has grown rich off the backs of his workers.

Meanwhile, Grill’d workers struggle to make ends meet. The current agreement increases wages by just 1 percent per year. Once inflation is factored in, staff have gone backwards at a rate of knots.

An analysis from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA, the union covering the workers) has found that those on the current enterprise agreement are up to 37 percent worse off than if they had been on the award wage instead.

So, across South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, Grill’d workers were out for better pay and conditions. Some of their demands include wage increases that account for inflation, appropriate pay for staff with more responsibilities, and guaranteed hours for permanent contracts.

Many of the workers reported to Red Flag that they are overworked and understaffed, and often unable to call in sick or take breaks.

Outside the Rundle Steet Grill’d, a supporter remarked: “See how ridiculously priced [the] burgers are? Surely, they can spare a few extra dollars for the workers here ... We all deserve fair living wages, so why not?”

One young worker said she was earning $600 working 50 hours a week, having just turned 18. “I didn’t know any better. This was my first job, and I took it because I was desperate”, she said, adding that while working at Grill’d and studying at university, she collects bottles to help pay for groceries and does DoorDash on the side.

At a time when strike rates are at a historic low and wealth inequality is soaring, these workers are showing what needs to happen. As one said defiantly, “Our efforts today will help the higher-ups see we are not to be taken advantage of, and we deserve to have an agreement where we are actually better off!”