Retail bosses make excuses to sack staff
In response to an article in last weeks Melbourne Times, UNITE has written the following reply.
Dear editor,
In last weeks MT article “Retail jobs in jeopardy due to new industrial relations laws”, retail bosses are apparently hardly done by because of the new industrial laws. Their solution is to sack staff, increase casualistaion and bump up prices for consumers.
Leaving aside the fact that Rudd’s industrial laws are fundamentally the same as Howard’s, for many years the retail industry has been making mega profits. For many retailers even the onset of recession has not yet meant a drop in sales.
Woolworths for example increased their sales by 6.5 percent to $12.3 billion in the three months to April 09. Unfortunately their workers were not afforded the corresponding pay rise and prices continue to go up.
It’s nothing less than offensive that these employers want to use some minor changes to the laws as an excuse to wind back workplace conditions and rip off consumers. If anything they should be forced to protect jobs and keep prices low as the economic downturn starts to bite.
Anthony Main
Secretary of UNITE, fast food and retail workers union in Victoria