SPOTLESS Dandenong update: the company have decided not only tthst they’re not paying pandemic/quarantine pay to the workers but also they have made it harder for workers to access the state government payment! 😡
Workers were told last night that if they are permanent they can access annual leave and long service leave but unless they test positive they cannot access sick leave for the shutdown.
This means permanent workers won’t exhaust their sick leave, and therefore, can’t access the state government program (although this doesn’t stop casual workers getting it).
This highlights how exemptions and carve outs in social welfare measures can be used by employers to control workers. Something the @AusUnemployment have been saying loudly for years!
Meanwhile, if Spotless direct workers are not getting paid who knows what’s happening to the Excel Recruitment labour hire workers brought in after the second case?
Were the labour hire workers told about the safety risk? Now they have done one shift somewhere and they can’t work for a fortnight.
This leads to separate issues about labour hire workers working across multiple host worksites. It’s a risk but these workers need income.
Spotless will reply that they have a hardship fund. It’s only payable at conoany discretion, and casual workers are not eligible for it anyway. Besides, managerial discretion got us into this mess in the first place.
Spotless could have said no worker will go without income during the Dandenong shut down but they didn’t. There’s good grounds to suspect that workers who took a stand will be adversely treated.
After all, Spotless workers who turned up to work after the second COVID case were handed $50 gift vouchers by their employer. End of thread.
