The following article appeared in this week’s Melbourne Times:
By Genevieve Gannon
Fair Work is investigating 7-Eleven franchises in Victoria over claims of exploitation. The union for fast food and retail workers, UNITE, said international students, particularly Indians, had become common targets.
UNITE welcomes the announcement from the Fair Work Ombudsman of a statewide audit of Victoria’s 7-Eleven stores.
The 7-Eleven audits will start this month. This comes after a year long campaign where UNITE exposed various 7-Eleven franchisees for systematically underpaying their staff.
UNITE action a success!
More than 30 people attended a protest outside the 7-Eleven store on Domain Rd, South Yarra last Friday evening. The action was organised by UNITE, the union campaigning against the underpayment of wages in 7-Eleven stores.
Article written by Christie Peucker in the Geelong Advertiser September 18th, 2009
DISGRUNTLED ex-employees of Moorabool St’s 7-Eleven will picket the convenience store’s South Yarra franchise this afternoon where their former boss has interests.
Time for Eddie Chan to pay up!
On Friday September 18 between 5-6pm UNITE will stage an action outside the 7-Eleven store at 187 Domain Rd, South Yarra. The store is located on the corner of Park St, opposite the Botanical Gardens.
The South Yarra store is part owned by Eddie Chan. Until recently Chan also owned the Moorabool St store in Geelong where he paid his workers only half of the wages they were owed!
A mass rally has been called for next Tuesday in protest of the weakening of OH&S legislation.
The rally will be on Tuesday September 1st, 10am outside Trades Hall (corner Victoria & Lygon st, Carlton South- near RMIT).
The rally has been called in response to the Labor Government attempting to water down Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) laws
Click the link below to read UNITE’s submission to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee: Inquiry into the Welfare of International Students. We hope that our submission helps to highlight some of the problems that international student workers face in and outside their workplaces.
UNITE member Kirk Leonard will be speaking at a meeting about the Rudd Government’s new Industrial Relations legislation, the Fair Work Act.
UNITE’s year long campaign starts to bring results
UNITE’s campaign against convenience store giant 7-Eleven is starting to bring results. After a series of protests and media publicity, UNITE has forced the Fair Work Ombudsman to take action against 7-Eleven franchisees that have been underpaying international students.
7-Eleven workers in Sydney have been back paid over $50,000 after a Fair Work Ombudsman’s investigation prompted by UNITE. The following is an excerpt from the media release from the Fair Work Ombudsman:
“Fifteen convenience stores in Sydney’s CBD will reimburse 80 workers more than $50,000 after an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman found the employees were being underpaid.
Fair Work Ombudsman Executive Director Michael Campbell says inspectors have checked the books of 50 stores selected at random.
The following is the text from a new leaflet produced by UNITE about issues facing international students in the workplace. An A4 version of the leaflet can be downloaded here. If you would like to be sent a number of these leaflets to handout or circulate, contact UNITE on 03 9328 1555 or email the office.
International students face many barriers in the workplace because of the 20 hour work restriction (condition 8104 and 8105). It means that most international students cannot legally work more than 20 hours per week during semester. Many international students have no choice but to work over 20 hours per week to make enough to get by, particularly due to rising student fees and the rising cost of living.
Article written by Aleks Devic in the Geelong Advertiser June 19th, 2009
A Geelong worker says he was forced to clean urine from a 7-Eleven store while being paid less than $10 an hour.
Mohamed Rashid was so desperate to get work he claims he underwent a two-month trial at the Moorabool St store without any pay.
Hoodies, T-Shirts, Badges…
UNITE is selling merchandise to help raise money for the struggle against the greedy bosses in the fast food and retail industries.
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.
Last night The Union Show on Channel 31 ran a story about UNITE’s campaign against 7-Eleven. Click the link here to watch the clip on Blip TV. The UNITE story comes on after about 7 minutes.
This particular show also looks at the situation facing DSE firefighters, construction worker safety and a tribute to a good friend of UNITE, Dave Kerin. We urge all of our members and supporters to check out The Union Show 7pm every Tuesday night on Channel 31. Many thanks to the crew at SKA TV for producing such a fantastic show every week!