Music to his ears

Child care mogul Eddie Groves requires employees earning as 
little as $6 an hour to supply music for his centres from their 
home collections, Federal Parliament has heard.

MP Michael Danby made the claim in Canberra, after congratulating 
Groves on his move up the Business Review Weekly (BRW) Rich List 
courtesy of a personal fortune estimated at $175 million.

Groves' ABC Learning Centres actively oppose Work Value cases 
being run by the child care workers' union, the Liquor, 
Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union (LHMU) in the ACT 
and Victoria in a bid to raise entry rates for child carers which 
are as low as $5.99 for teenagers, and $11.90 for adults.

The ABC Learning Centres' stance is significant because it is the 
biggest for-profit operator in Australia with more than 300 
childcare centres.

"While I would like to congratulate Mr Groves for moving up to 
131 on the BRW Rich List, ABC Centres refuse to hire sufficient 
cleaners, refuse to pay staff a decent wage and require staff to 
bring their own music to play to the children", Danby said.

The MP for Melbourne Ports referred to a complaint he had 
received from an ABC Learning Centres employee who said she 
"couldn't afford to stay in the industry".

"At ABC we do all the cleaning in the centre and are expected to 
tidy the outside areas as well", she wrote.

"I believe that if a job includes several roles i.e. cleaning and 
child care, then maybe the award wage should reflect this. If ABC 
had to pay cleaners in each of its centres, it would cost 
hundreds of dollars, instead the childcare workers have to 
perform the role of cleaners to save Eddie more money.

"Staff are also required to play music at certain times of the 
day, which is not supplied by ABC and only gets played if staff 
bring in their own music."

Leading Liberal Party figures, including Jeff Kennett and Andrew 
Peacock, have been associated with the management of ABC Learning 
Centres.

Last year, Groves donated $10,000 to the Queensland Liberal 
Party.

Danby revealed Federal Treasurer Peter Costello had recently 
visited an ABC Learning Centre in Queensland.

He called on Parliament to scrutinise government subsidies to 
Groves' operation, especially in light of his highly-publicised 
handouts to the Brisbane Bullets basketball team and the Brisbane 
Lions AFL side.

Groves has begun legal action against the LHMU, alleging they 
portrayed him as greedy and mean.