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Supermarket cleaners wages 'stolen'Date: 15 June 2005
Korean guest workers are the target of unscrupulous offers for cleaning jobs at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets at Town Hall. " They are asked to work through the night to make sure these prime spot supermarkets are spick and span for customers.
Bosses who disappear into the night" But then they are ripped off by shonky employers who under pay them - or sometimes disappear into the night with their pay packets," Sonia Minutillo, LHMU Cleaners Union Executive Vice President said today." Even though we can demonstrate a pattern of dodgy job practices neither Coles nor Woolworths are prepared to accept responsibility. " These very wealthy supermarket retailers say the fact that this is happening in their stores has nothing to do with them.
Chain of responsibility" They don't want to know that there is a chain of responsibility back to their plush head offices when they contract out the responsibility for these key jobs." Earlier this year the LHMU Cleaners Union won more than $ 15,000 in back pay for half a dozen Korean guest workers who are in Australia on working holiday visas," Ms Minutillo said
Spreading like a cancer through the industry" But we knew then that this was the tip of the ice-berg - and there is evidence that this crisis is spreading like a cancer throughout the NSW industry."The union is about to prosecute two more cases at Coles and Woolworths at Town Hall where Korean guest workers have been paid up to half the legal award rate for this work.
International Justice Day for cleanersSpeaking on International Justice for Cleaners Day Ms Minutillo said LHMU Cleaners Union members will begin state-wide meetings today to discuss this crisis - and how we can campaign to turn this around.
Ms Minutillo said the union is considering some of the successful campaign models adopted in North America to force the big retail chains to accept responsibility for the work they outsource to smaller companies. International Justice for Cleaners Day on June 15 has been observed for 15 years following a successful strike in 1990 by mainly immigrant cleaners in Century City, a wealthy financial district in Los Angeles.
Cleaners savagely beaten by policeStrikers were holding a peaceful protest against a multinational contract cleaner that employed them when they were savagely beaten by police. The incident provoked a public outcry in the U.S. and abroad." Many of these guest workers are either ignorant of their rights, or just too scared to speak out about their poor pay and working conditions - that's what their shonky bosses are counting on.
Woolies and Coles happy to go along for the rise while situation deteriorates" And Woolworths and Coles are happy to go along for the ride," Ms Minutillo said. The LHMU Cleaners Union believes this situation will deteriorate dramatically once the Howard Government passes their new workplace laws." Too many unscrupulous employers in the contract cleaning industry are using these workers to maximise their own profits by breaking our existing employment law," Ms Minutillo said. " The bad employers know that many of these workers won't complain, or do not know how to go about getting redress," Sonia Minutillo said.
Cash in hand" If and when they do get paid it is often cash in hand, no payslips are produced and the money they get is well under the legal minimum award rates." They are not paid proper allowances for cleaning the toilets, they get no superannuation payments - and their shonky employers make even more money avoiding tax by not getting the workers to sign any employment declarations."
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© 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/1118778631_26108.html Last Modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 18:35:30 EST
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