|
|
 |
|
|
| Home | Ask Neale | Calendar | Links |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
NT's Big Rat Award to SodexhoDate: 15 April 2005
Unions in the Northern Territory are handing out their first ever Big Rat award for bad employment practices informing Territory families which company has done the most to gnaw away at working conditions. The NT's Big Rat Award will be handed out today to balance February's popular annual Alcan awards for Best Contractors in the Northern Territory. " The Big Rat Award is handed out by union workers who reckon not all of Alcan's contractors, who are making heaps out of the Gove project, are doing the decent thing by the working people on the Gove Peninsula," Irene Monro LHMU NT secretary said today. Come along to witness our alternative awards outside the Alcan Office 59 Mitchell Street Darwin on Friday April 15 at 1:00pm.
MEDIA ALERT Sodexho workplace policies stinkNT LHMU Branch Secretary, Irene Monro, said she'd hoped to avoid handing out this first ever award for an employer whose workplace policies stink." But talks with the French multinational, Sodexho, collapsed and union members insisted we let the company know what we think of their stance."
Union workers have support across the Territory and the globeThis union awards event is supported by all unions with members at the Gove construction site including the CFMEU, the CEPU, the LHMU and the AMWU as well as Unions NT." And because Sodexho is a multinational we're making sure word of this ' prestigious award' will quickly get back to their Paris head office - thanks to our union colleagues in Europe," Ms Monro said with a ratty smirk - chewing on some imported cheese! Multinational wants to take more money off low-paid workersCatering workers employed by the French multinational Sodexho, who have a contract at Alcan's Gove G3 Construction site, are paid as little as $12.85 per hour.The work on this construction site - in one of the more remote and isolated parts of Australia about 650 kilometres east of Darwin - is done in sometimes extreme climatic conditions.
Workers thousands of dollars worse offUniversal Sodexho - which operates the French company's remote sites operations - is trying to force catering workers to sign individual employment contracts, which will gnaw huge holes into pockets." These catering workers will be thousands of dollars worse off than other workers doing work on isolated construction sites," Irene Monro, LHMU NT Branch Secretary said today. " The seventy catering workers should have the same union rights as other Sodexho staff. " And it is all because Universal Sodexho sees an opportunity to squeeze just a little more profit for the Paris head office by gnawing away at the pockets of 70 already low-paid workers.
Undermine community values" Alcan should also bear some of the responsibility. They should not sub-contract these jobs to companies whose actions undermine the morale, and the community values, of workers and their families in these small, tight-knit and isolated communities," Irene Monro said." Recent attempts to have Alcan take responsibility for the behaviour of its contractor have been ignored.
Kick bad contractors out of Gove" Alcan was happy in February to have a slap-up dinner and celebrations for a Best Contractors annual event. The other side of the coin is they should be ready to kick off the site their worst contractor, who is causing problems in the Gove community," Ms Monro said." Union members believe Sodexho should be sitting down to bargain a decent and reasonable collective agreement with the LHMU - instead of opportunistically attempting to bump up profits for Paris HQ by offering disgraceful sub-standard individual employment contracts. Sodexho's improved relations with union workers in Europe and USA" Recently Sodexho has been boasting that they have improved relations with union workers in Europe and the USA. They've been talking with our global union federation, the IUF, about these improvements." Meanwhile they are hoping to hide the way they behave to catering workers in the isolated Northern Territory's Gove peninsula.
Union standard, decent pay for all Sodexho catering workers" We may be thousands of kilometres from Paris and Washington and Sydney - but Gove catering workers should be treated as decently as Sodexho catering workers in these big cities." If catering workers in Paris, Washington and Sydney can expect union standard decent workplaces, and decent pay, then so should this small band of catering workers in isolated Gove," Irene Monro said.
For further details contact:Irene Monro, NT LHMU Branch Secretary08 8981 5611 or 0419860176 Ron Oswald, General Secretary, IUF +41 22 793 22 33 or +41 79 679 6462
For further information
|
|
Privacy | Disclaimer | Sitemap |Feedback | Links |
|
© 1997-2002 LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW 10th Floor, 377-383 Sussex Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Ph: (02) 9264 1691 Fax: (02) 9261 3505 http://www.labor.net.au/news/1113479989_1640.html Last Modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 18:36:09 EST
LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed |
   
|
