The Guardian 12 December, 2007
Sanitarium contract push hard to swallow
The Sanitarium Health Food Company has been caught out trying to force its workers onto individual employment contracts. Less than a week after the swearing in of the new Rudd Labor Government, the health food giant, owned by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, is attempting to circumvent the new Government’s policy to abolish Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs).
Workers at Sanitarium’s Cooranbong site, on the NSW central coast, have been informed that they need to sign the contract if they are interested in being employed there.
Employees are now faced with a "take it or leave it" situation from management.
According to National Union of Workers (NUW) NSW State Secretary Derek Belan, Sanitarium is sneakily trying a back-door approach to shut out collective agreements and by-pass any IR changes that may be implemented by the Rudd Labor Government.
"This is a blatant attempt by Sanitarium bosses to repackage AWAs in common law agreements that incorporate the worst aspects of the WorkChoices legislation. The company is doing this to circumvent any proposed abolition of AWAs", Mr Belan said.
Sanitarium management has refused all requests by the NUW to negotiate a collective agreement even though the majority of workers have agreed that they want one.
"Sanitarium bosses have shown that they really don’t have any respect for their workers’ rights in trying to bully them into signing these contracts", Derek Belan said.
The contracts being forced onto workers are highly questionable and are retrograde. Some aspects include:
No commencement or nominated term of the Agreements.
Weekly salaries are listed with no further wage increases.
Employees may be forced to do additional hours without being paid overtime.
Annual leave may only be taken to suit the operational requirements of the business.
Workers can be sued for any breach of "confidential information" as determined by Sanitarium.
Employees may be transferred to different business locations at any time to suit the needs of the company without any compensation.
The Individual employment contracts supersede all prior representations and agreements.
"The clauses of the individual contracts strip away rights and conditions and are being put to the workers in the most heavy-handed way possible", Mr Belan noted. "The clauses of the individual contracts strip away rights and conditions and are being put to the workers in the most heavy-handed way possible. "Sanitarium is showing that they have no other priority other than profit, profits which as a church-owned organisation they pay no income tax on. They seem unable or unwilling to listen to their employees and go all out to push them onto unfair individual workplace arrangements."