General

Australian Workplace Agreements

IR laws used to rip off sacked workers

After years of loyal service at Pele Curtains in the suburb of Mitcham, Denise and eight of her workmates were given just 15 minutes notice that they were being sacked.

On Monday this week the workers were handed a termination letter and a cheque and told that they had to clear out their lockers and immediately leave the premises.

One of the nine sacked workers had worked for Pele Curtains for 21 years, most of the others for more than ten years.

To add insult to injury, when the workers read the termination letter they discovered that their employer was sacking them for 'operational reasons' under the Federal Government's IR laws and they would not be paid any of their redundancy entitlements.

The workers earned just $14.50 an hour - $551 a week - and are estimated to have each lost between eight and ten thousand dollars in redundancy and other entitlements.

The workers' union, the CFMEU Furniture Division, will seek to recover their entitlements in the Industrial Relations Commission.

But under the Howard Government's IR laws workers employed in businesses of less than 100 staff have lost all their unfair dismissal rights.

The laws also ban workers from lodging an unfair dismissal claim if their employer cites 'operational reasons' as one of the reasons for the worker's termination.

This so called 'operational reasons' loop-hole in the Government's IR laws was also used by employers in the high profile Cowra abattoir case where 29 workers where sacked and offered their jobs back with a 30% pay cut - a tactic that the Government's workplace authority found to be legal.

'Operational reasons' was also the reason cited by retailer Priceline when it sacked employee Andrew Cruickshank in Melbourne recently only to immediately advertise his job with a 25% salary cut.

Mr Cruickshank this week gained the right to have his case heard again by the Industrial Relations Commission.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

"What we are seeing time and time again under these IR laws is that employees have lost even the most basic rights.

These are hard working people with families to support and who are just struggling to keep their heads above water. It is appalling that their rights and job security can be trampled on in this way.

The IR laws might be good for big business but what has happened to these workers shows what a threat they are to the welfare and job security of ordinary working families," said Ms Burrow.

© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/latest_news/general/20070629_work.html
Last Modified: 29 Jun 2007