Movie World - union's "rowdy protest"

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

 

Edited March 20, 2017 by Slick
MOD EDIT: Please paste the video link itself instead of just a screen-cap so we can have an insightful conversation. :)

[TomiJ]

Yea this was a little confusing reading them in both this thread and the off topic thread.

Did anyone go that day to have a free sausage provided by the protesters. 

[Brad2912]

28 minutes ago, TomiJ said:

 

Did anyone go that day to have a free sausage provided by the protesters. 

I heard they were overturned and undercooked 

maybe we should have a protest....

[Santa07]

5 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

maybe we should have a protest....

protesting what?

"Not enough B&Ms"?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

lol. "Steve Titmus"

[Theme Park Girl]

It's interesting they mention that the only wages outstanding are Sunday rates. Every other hospitality industry I've worked within has also had Saturday, evening and early morning penalty rate loading on top of regular hours (including my current job as per my latest payslip, see below):

Heaven knows how many times I had to work back past 7pm whilst working for VRTP, especially during extended trading hours. I'd be interested to know whether such rates should also be relevant to theme park employees as well, not just Sunday rates? 

 

[Brad2912]

Depends on the award and if the company has an EBA.

When I was managing an entertainment venue, I was amazed when I was hired that the EBA that frontline non-management staff operated under gave them no penalty rates at all (no Sundays, not even public holidays)

[BNErider]

Worked for an airline for a few years. No extra pay for weekends, public holidays, Christmas/New Years etc. We'd work overnight and get no money for that, either, but that was kind of offset by a travel allowance. That was a salary position though.

[Brad2912]

In salaried positioned penalties are included in the makeup of your annual salary. I don't get paid extra whether I work every public holiday or none, work past midnight everyday or never, that's the life of a salaried worker as opposed to a wages paid employee 

[GC Theme Parks]

I know people who attended this rally as Union member and I also know people who work within the park. VRTP's has admitted that they underpaid workers and haven't been paying Sunday penalty rates. They're the Gold Coast second biggest employer. I didn't expect that from them, I hope that everything is sorted out because I love the parks and wouldn't want to see a high quality brand ruined because of this. 

[Brad2912]

Where is this admission you speak of? That's a pretty big claim and would lead to extreme fines (multi million dollar) and sanctions for management (potential imprisonment). 

It would also be a leading newstory.

proof to your claim would be appreciated @GC Theme Parks

[GC Theme Parks]

@Brad2912 Noted in the report at the top of the thread is 1) Movie World has to adjust its wage to the right award wage and backpay to 2015. 2) They haven't been paying Sunday penalty rates. These are some quotes in which Movie World says they will be adjusting to insure no one will be underpaid but has to backdate to July 2015 so this has been going on for a while. They are currently in in talks about officially removing Sunday penalty rates but that hasn't been agreed on and so they are considered to not be paying them.

“The only outstanding item is Sunday loading which is being discussed with the AWU and FWC in a pre-scheduled meeting on March 22,” said Tony Lines, head of people and culture.

“There are some areas where we are adjusting the agreement to align with the award. Any pay rates that fall below the corresponding level in the award will be increased and back paid until first pay in July 2015, therefore no-one will be underpaid.”

[Theme Park Girl]

As I mentioned in the other thread on the same issue, I personally don't understand why the non-payment of Sunday penalty rates in the parks has suddenly become an issue, given its been a practice of theirs for at least 15 years now. Wehen I worked at Sea World from 2002-2004, it was a flat rate 7 days a week. I've worked for them twice more since then, and nothing had changed. 

So I don't get the backdating to July 2015 thing, since it's been a standard practice from well before now? 

I also believe that Dreamworld has the same deal with their pay rates for a long, long time now. So why are they not being targeted by these protests, too? 

3 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Depends on the award and if the company has an EBA.

Yeah, VRTP always clarify straight up during their group interview orientations that they have an AWU/EBA agreement in place, as well as their hourly rates and lack of weekend penalty rates. However the AWU has recently been claiming in their protests that this was never actually approved by them to begin with. So who knows ?

Edited March 20, 2017 by Theme Park Girl

[New display name]

I think the union is more interested in this than the employees.  An article was run in the fake news Gold Coast bulletin on Friday.  It went on to say that the union had a closed Facebook page on the issue for staff.  Apparently, this closed group had over 1000 members and the article led me to believe it was going to be a huge protest.  Long rambling short I did a drive-by on the way to Bunnings, Saturday morning around 9:30am.  The snippet shown here is the most people that were at the protest.  When I drove past there was no more than 15 people at the front.  When I did the return drive-by at 10:30am the group had reduced to 6.   I don’t know how long the protest lasted for and don’t know how many people came and went.

Having a sign waved in your face as you enter saying you are pretty much supporting a sweat factory for going in is intimidating and borderline thuggery.   At the end of the day I don’t know what the union wanted to achieve.

Whenever I hear this unions name now alarm bells go off in my head.   I don’t understand why they started kicking DW when they were down.  If DW was unsafe for the union members, why would the union not stop the workers from working?

If village are not paying the staff, the correct wages why not stop the staff from working?

[rappa]

Wish I could comment here but wouldn't be wise. 

There is so much fake stuff thus union sprouts though. I bet village would love to have the 80 million profit they keep saying they do. Any of us that read the financial results know the real truth through. 

[Brad2912]

Important to note @GC Theme Parks, that VTP has not be withholding Sunday penalty rates. There EBA stated that there is no penalty rates for workers, as has been a long stance. Workers were not entitled to these, so therefore they were not withheld.

That they may change that stance and their EBA in the future due to concerns of the union or feedback from their staff is another matter. The agreement to payback staff the difference to the award for the past 18 or so months is also a more token gesture to get the union off their back. If their EBA clearly states the pay rates, And was approved (which it has to have been to be in place) then nothing they have done is illegal.

[Theme Park Girl]

Well that's exactly it. As I mentioned before, in my numerous experiences of doing their interviews and inductions they have always provided full disclosure of their hourly rates - including no weekend penalty rates-PRIOR to employment contract signing. So every employee of theirs has voluntarily signed & agreed to work under those rates. 

Nothing has ever changed, and nobody has been forced into anything, if they didn't agree with the rates then they could have easily walked out before contract signing. 

Yeah, I do admit that it's a bit sucky that the parks don't pay a lot of penalty rates, however I don't believe they are doing anything wrong, and I don't think the AWU really have a leg to stand on with this matter, especially given the time it has taken for them to flare up about it ?

[Levithian]

new

https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/documents/agreements_applications/ag2016_3590.pdf

old

https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/documents/agreements/fwa/ae404520.pdf

[GC Theme Parks]

@Brad2912 Unions have to agree to dumping Sunday penalty rates, when they do it's a trade off for higher average wages. The union states that they never agreed to anything meaning that Movie World legally has to pay Sunday penalty. I know that you may sign a contract saying that you don't mind not taking Sunday penalty rates but it's the law to be paid them unless there is union agreement.

Furthermore, the repaying and backdating of wages is not a "token to keep the unions happy" it's because they didn't pay the award rate as stated earlier in the quote in my above post.

Anyway, may I say I hope this is sorted out so that the workers get fair pay and VRTP's reputation isn't put on the line in further action taken by the union.

[Theme Park Girl]

27 minutes ago, GC Theme Parks said:

@Brad2912The union states that they never agreed to anything meaning that Movie World legally has to pay Sunday penalty. I know that you may sign a contract saying that you don't mind not taking Sunday penalty rates but it's the law to be paid them unless there is union agreement.

That still doesn't explain why, after 15-20 years, the non-payment of Sunday rates has suddenly become an issue to kick up a stink over? If they never agreed to them, then why not tackle the issue back when it first started? 

[TomiJ]

@GC Theme Parks I never heard of unions having to agree dumping Sunday penty rates for a higher pay is this legislation or where in law does it say. I looked for about 20mins and found nothing. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong stuff; do you mind quoting the legislation or law. 

[GC Theme Parks]

@Theme Park Girl I agree, I don't understand why it's a big issue now and it hasn't always been an issue. It should of always been an issue. Maybe because of the massive debate about Sunday penalty rates in Parliament. But then again, Sunday penalty rates will be no more after July, it's kind of a dead issue now going forward but the union may have a case for the past years, but as I said this should have been an issue always. 

@TomiJ "All set awards must be paid unless an agreement is reached between the employer and employee" - Fair work commission. To break it down Sunday penalty rates are a set award and must be paid. Furthermore, when it says 'agreements between employer and employee' that mean the employers and unions because no one employee could every come to a fair agreement because they would most likely lose fair work conditions and possibly their job. The whole point of the union is to work to protect workers.

[rappa]

You're actually wrong GC Theme Parks. 

The unions actually have zero legal power whatsoever. The agreement is reached between the employer and the government. The government creates awards in consultation with the unions but it's the government that is the legally binding part of the equation. 

Your quote of "agreement between the employee and employer" is just that. In this case it's talking about an EBA. An EBA is established between the employer and the government and supersedes an award that may otherwise be in place. 

Again the unions will have input to influence the governments decision but they have no legal power. 

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, GC Theme Parks said:

@Brad2912 Unions have to agree to dumping Sunday penalty rates, when they do it's a trade off for higher average wages. The union states that they never agreed to anything meaning that Movie World legally has to pay Sunday penalty. I know that you may sign a contract saying that you don't mind not taking Sunday penalty rates but it's the law to be paid them unless there is union agreement.

Furthermore, the repaying and backdating of wages is not a "token to keep the unions happy" it's because they didn't pay the award rate as stated earlier in the quote in my above post.

 

Thanks for the reply, but you're inherently wrong in what you have said 

And thanks @djrappa for saving me typing as to why, as you already have done it for me!

Edited March 21, 2017 by Brad2912

[GC Theme Parks]

@djrappa Agreements are reached between an employer and the union on behalf of workers, that's just how it is. Look up all the agreements the unions have made with certain employers. Yes, you're right in saying the unions technically have no legal power but they work on behalf of the employees and the government almost always accepts their agreements. 

Anyway, I'm done with this argument I'm normally just here to talk about exciting things around our theme parks and I hope I haven't ruffled any feathers with all of this. I really am not a bad person nor a union suck up, I promise.