Sweet Shop Not Sweatshop, Says Darrell Lea On Awas

The Age

Friday March 30, 2007

Meaghan Shaw, Workplace Editor

THE federal workplace watchdog is investigating claims that Darrell Lea chocolate shops has pressured casuals into signing Australian Workplace Agreements that cut public holiday pay by more than $100 a shift.

The Office of Workplace Services director, Nicholas Wilson, confirmed that the watchdog was investigating after some staff complained they were forced into signing the AWAs.

The agreements cut casuals' penalty rates for weekends and public holidays, offering a flat rate of $22.02 an hour.

They also cut a weekly laundry allowance and make no provision for wage rises over the life of the five-year agreement.

The Shop Distributive and Allied Employees' Association estimates the loss for a casual working a six-hour shift is $13.71 on Saturday, $73.47 on Sunday and $118.53 on a public holiday.

The union's state secretary, Michael Donovan, claimed that existing casual staff who did not sign an AWA lost their weekend shifts. Opposition workplace spokeswoman Julia Gillard said casuals were put in a position of no choice, where employers could reduce their hours until they were effectively no longer working there.

"This is the truth of Mr Howard's industrial relations system," she said.

"No choice, a cut in pay, a cut in conditions and, at the end of all that, you don't see any benefits for five years."

Darrell Lea chief executive John Tolmie denied there had been an edict from head office.

He also said it was not the intention of the AWAs to freeze wages for five years.

Mr Tolmie told The Age that more than 400 staff had signed the agreements, which were first offered to new staff joining the company's 84 stores after September last year. "We've gone out with explicit policies from head office to say there'll be no coercion," he said.

Mr Tolmie said the company was co-operating with the investigation.

He confirmed that the company intended to have all its casuals on AWAs, given competitive pressures and the company's huge seasonal casual pool over Christmas and Easter.

"As we understand it, from our research, just about every other retailer out there has got some form or other of AWAs in play," he said.

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