Blueprints S1E1 - SuperSize My Pay - NZ 2005

Union organiser and podcast co-producer Simon Oosterman, who ran this 2005 campaign, talks about how they used a dispute with fast food giant Restaurant Brands as a lever to bring the issue of low pay into the national conversation. In less than a year they won the first fast food worker contract in 20 years, forced the phasing out of youth rates, and put the low minimum wage onto the national agenda. The campaign saw the world’s first Starbucks strike and a 1,000 strong school student strike.

• The campaign structure that Simon talks about, and that will guide this first series, comes from this excellent organising and strategy handbook

• The YouTube documentary which doesn’t focus enough on Simon and the volunteers who ran the campaign, but still has some good stuff in it

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Thanks to Masarima and Clone Records for the title music

Thanks also to Ethan Hunter