Revolt Regain Restore SDA

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

2011-12-23T07:35:00.000+11:00

Keep up the good work, spread the word of the existence of the blogsite and facebook site. We must get rid of the inadequate leadership within the SDA.

Special wishes to Mr. Joe De Bruyn. We, the members would ask you to stop using SDA money and influence in attacking our brothers and sisters within the gay movement. Most people are aware of your scandalous attack at the recent labor part conference in Sydney. Our Union is made up of all groups and nationalities. Hoping that the true spirit of Christmas will inspire you to treat others with respect.

All keep safe over this dangerous period and look forward to hearing from you in the New Year.

WE ALL MUST VOTE "NO"

2011-11-06T12:10:00.000+11:00

We are about to be done in again by Joe De Bruyen and his SDA state secretaries. What we are suggesting is that everybody should vote NO in relation to the Woolworths Agreement and should it be agreeable with the woolworths retail workers covered by this agreement we would then put forward a name for your consideration to negotiate on behalf of all retail workers within Woolworths.

Remember that all woolies employees whether they be members of any union or in fact not a member of any union have the right to nominate someone to negotiate on their behalf. This negotiator if appointed would not have the authority to agree to any give away proposals. The proposed agreement would have to be returned to all woolies employees to have a vote.

If people do not take an interest we will be dudded once again.

Information will be available through the private email section of our site for any Woolies workers to obtain multiple copies for distribution in yours and other stores. This has become necessary because of the SDA and Woolworths' habit of censoring and destroying alternative views.

WOOLIES ALERT

2011-11-02T17:39:00.000+11:00

Bargaining notifications went up in all the Woolies supermarkets suggesting that negotiations for the new agreement were about to begin. One day later the dates for negotiations went up, roughly one week later they were due to start.

Out of the negotiations members will be in for an unpleasant surprise. Our informant has said the agreement is already completed, but the Company and our State Secretaries are insinuating that serious and honest negotiations are about to take place.

Once again our conditions are about to be eroded with the pretence that we will gain some benefit.

Inflation has eaten away the $ value of our wages. Over the past decades the SDA has given away our entitlements. They have reduced our sick pay on weekends, given away our penalties and reduced a large number of allowances.

We cannot afford to accept sub-standard wage increases with no prospect of penalty rates to increase our take home pay.

Our group was formed to pressure incompetent leadership to respond to us, the SDA membership. This can only be achieved by letting our State Secretaries know of our dissatisfaction. Contact your SDA Organiser or State Secretary and let them know that you are not prepared to be sold out.

We feel that our aims are achievable. Other unions have negotiated reasonable settlements in the past and will continue into the future. It is our Union which is sometimes referred to as a sub-branch of the Woolworths empire which has given away too many of our working conditions.

There are sub-groups within the SDA who were originally covered by other Unions, who have expressed a wish to return to their previous Union coverage as their conditions under those Unions’ Agreements were far superior to what they now receive.

We believe that these groups should be able to return to their previous coverage and should not be held hostage because of dishonest arrangements entered into by Woolies and the SDA leadership. For example the bakers want to go back to the Bakers’ Union and the butchers want to go back to the Meat Union.

Woolies and the SDA appear to have commenced a sham negotiating period because they have become aware that there is an organised group trying to rally support for better wage outcomes.

This newsletter has been produced and distributed by RRRSDA reform group. Our principle aims are:

1. A decent wage rate.

2. Restore the casual loading to time and a quarter.

3. Remove the clause giving employers the right to reduce part-time hours.

4. Regain some control about compulsory hours, which is having a devastating effect on workers’ personal relationships, family lives and quality of life.

5. Remove compulsory work prior to 7am and after 6pm Monday to Friday.

6. Re-introduce voluntary work on Saturdays and Sundays.

Unless the SDA can demonstrate some ability to achieve our principle aims, we would recommend a “no” vote on any sub-standard agreement.

Members need to be aware that the Company through their store managers and the SDA through their gullible store reps will be out to confiscate and destroy our newsletters so we ask all SDA members to reproduce and distribute replacement newsletters when this occurs.

There is a vital need for all members to have access to alternative information to the current Woolworths and SDA co-operative newsletter.

We would appreciate your input and suggestions. Our group is contactable by either the contact section on our website or the email section. We also have a new format on our blog site to allow for easier downloading of our newsletters.

Our address is: http://reformSDA.blogspot.com

2011-11-01T20:58:00.003+11:00

2011-11-01T20:58:00.000+11:00

2011-11-01T20:56:00.000+11:00

NEWSFLASH

2011-10-24T14:39:00.000+11:00

TIME 10.45AM MONDAY, 23^RD OCTOBER, 2011

WE HAVE JUST BEEN INFORMED THAT THE SDA AND WOOLWORTHS HAVE COMMENCED THE OFFICIAL PART OF THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR A NEW AGREEMENT TO COVER ALL EMPLOYEES IN WOOLIES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA WIDE. (WE ARE ALSO AWARE THAT THE UNOFFICIAL NEGOTIATIONS HAVE BEEN GOING ON FOR SOMETIME)

WE ARE NOW IN A POSITION TO BRING REGULAR UPDATES AS TO THE PROGRESS OF THESE NEGOTIATIONS AS WE NOW HAVE ASSOCIATED MEMBERS WITHIN BOTH OF THE BEFOREMENTIONED GROUPS.

RUMOUR UNCONFIRMED AT THIS STAGE IS THAT THE SDA HAVE APPROACHED THE MEATWORKERS UNION FOR ASSISTANCE.

IF THIS IS TRUE, WE HOPE MR. DE BRUYN IS MAN ENOUGH TO LISTEN AND FOLLOW THEIR ADVICE.

WARNING TO MEATWORKERS UNION BEWARE OF THE SDA STATE SECRETARIES AND ESPECIALLY THEIR LEADER, JOE DE BRUYN, AS THESE GENTLEMEN ARE WELL SCHOOLED IN THE USE OF WEASEL WORDS AND OTHER FORMS OF DECEPTIVE BEHAVIOUR.

WILL BRING YOU FURTHER UPDATES WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

CONTACT THE SITE IF YOU HAVE ANY MESSAGES OR SUGGESTIONS TO PASS ON TO MR. DE BRUYN.

RRRSDA GROUP

2011-10-10T19:48:00.000+11:00

2011-09-30T16:43:00.002+10:00

Welcome meaties

2011-09-23T19:40:00.000+10:00

Don't blame us

2011-09-18T21:49:00.000+10:00

Don't blame us the supermarket staff.

The credit belongs to Joe De Bruyer and Michael Donovan. Unfortunately this is just the beginning of a slippery slide.

Stuff the next generation of meatworkers!

LAY DOWN WITH DOGS AND YOU WILL GET FLEAS

2011-08-24T17:58:00.000+10:00

Why aren't the SDA running this campaign?

2011-08-24T17:56:00.000+10:00

Intimidation and harrassment in Australian workplaces

2011-08-22T14:26:00.000+10:00

Duopoly Coles and Safeway Ice Frigrite

2011-08-22T14:21:00.000+10:00

CAMPAIGN TO CHANGE SDA FROM WITHIN

2011-08-18T20:05:00.000+10:00

A new campaign aims to change the tack of Australia’s largest trade union when it comes to supporting the rights of LGBTI Australians.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) has over 230,000 members and represents the interests of groups including shop assistants, pastry cooks, hairdressers, beauticians, and employees in the modelling, cosmetics, footwear and fast food industries.
But despite the gay-friendly industries it covers, the SDA has been saddled with the most socially conservative leadership of a union in the country.
SDA For Equality plans to change all that with a grassroots campaign among rank and file members to show that their leaders aren’t representing them.
SDA For Equality is encouraging anyone who works in an SDA industry to create a pro-equality placard and have a photo taken of themselves with it at work in their uniform.
The pictures will be put online on a campaign-specific website later this year and used to lobby the SDA leadership.
“We strongly urge all retail workers who support equality – whether gay or straight – to send us their photos and support the campaign,” SDA member and campaign leader said.
“Polls show that a majority of Australians support marriage equality, and young people are the strongest supporters.
“It stands to reasons that the SDA membership, which is largely young people, would also support marriage equality. But Joe de Bruyn refuses to listen to his members on this issue. He has scoffed at calls to conduct a survey.
“Joe de Bruyn continually uses his position to push an anti-equality agenda. It’s time that the SDA actually represented its membership on this issue, rather than the personal views of Joe de Bruyn.”
Brett Jones, an SDA delegate at a Woolworths store in Canberra, is one of the first to have his picture taken for the campaign.
“I wanted to show there are people in the SDA who don’t share Joe de Bruyn’s archaic and downright homophobic views,” Jones told the Star Observer.
“The SDA leadership is definitely ignoring the views of many of its members here. It’s made me feel very disenfranchised with the whole trade union movement.”
SDA leaders reportedly used their influence to ensure motions supporting same-sex marriage were not debated or voted on at this year’s NSW and Victorian ALP conferences.
De Bruyn has made countless public statements opposing the granting of equal rights and protections to same-sex couples and their children, and is one of the keynote speakers at this year’s Australian Christian Lobby national conference in October.
INFO: To get involved email sdaforequality@gmail.com
Tags: marriage equality, SDA, SDA national secretary Joe de Bruyn

Hearing Transcript - Woolies / S.D.A. / A.M.I.E.U

2011-07-11T22:24:00.004+10:00

This post has been added at the request of an SDA delegate who has evidence in relation to the Woolworths' SDA agreement - an agreement which was constructed in secrecy. The information on this blog will always be court supplied documentation sworn under oath. The first page of all transcripts will have details enabling the reader to get a copy of the full transcript.

Bullying

2011-07-11T22:22:00.007+10:00

This post has been added because of a major bullying problem occurring in retail establishments. All the major companies have given commitments to deal with bullying complaints where in actual fact they are more interested in covering up the situation, fearful that their manager's behaviour will reflect badly on their company names. We would ask that this site not become a source of bullying in itself.

Coles Meat Agreement

2011-07-11T22:20:00.004+10:00

This post has been added so that all supermarket employees can see the difference between open negotiations and secret negotiations, as is the custom of the SDA.

Woolworths

2011-07-11T14:29:00.005+10:00

This post has been added at the request of a number of Woolworths employees to enable them to keep up to date in an easier manner.

Honest appraisal

2011-07-01T09:43:00.000+10:00

NEWS FLASH - UNANIMOUS SUPPORT

2011-06-28T22:48:00.000+10:00

28 - 06 - 11

All our Coles members have voted in favour of the new agreement. There has not been one negative vote from any states or territories.

OOOPS! Sorry this should not have been posted 'til next week (until after the vote) - no matter we always knew the result.

The SDA will of course announce the number of people eligible to vote, the number that voted positively, the number who voted negatively, the numbers that were informal with bad words attached as I am sure everybody is interested in this information.

Dracula's File

2011-06-07T19:23:00.000+10:00

Important - please read

2011-06-01T13:20:00.002+10:00

Vote No

2011-05-31T19:45:00.000+10:00

Facebook Friends

2011-05-30T18:32:00.002+10:00

Facebook friends:

Our technical adviser has instructed us not to connect with Facebook sites as they are a doorway through which enemies of the site can enter and destroy it. As recently as the 30^th April, 2011 there was another attack on the site. Feel free to use our site at anytime. We would appreciate the existence of the site being circulated as much as possible. It is for all people to use. The attacks on the site have been instigated by two major employer groups and one association. We hope that you understand our position in wanting to preserve the site for all people of good character to use into the future.

BAD FEELINGS WITHIN WOOLWORTHS SUPERMARKETS

2011-03-30T22:28:00.002+11:00

BAD FEELINGS WITHIN WOOLWORTHS SUPERMARKETS

It has been brought to our attention that there have been a number of incidents where meat department employees have made disparaging remarks to employees of other departments in the supermarket.

I take this opportunity to explain to the meat department employees that we also were sucked in by the SDA and Woolies when our current EBA was circulated we were not aware that we were in fact voting away the wage rates and conditions of the meat department.

Meetings were held in all stores where it was put to us that if we voted positively for the agreement there were to be no major changes and we would receive pay rise which was to be delivered in six equal installments over the next three years. At no time during our SDA briefings were we informed that the new agreement was to cover the meat rooms. In fact, we were told that if we voted “yes” we would also receive many hundreds of dollars in backpay.

We have since learnt that the meat room were banned from attending the lunchroom meetings but were given separate briefings usually held in their departments. We also understand that those meat employees who were not intimidated by the men in suits who delivered these briefings indicated that they had no intention of voting for the agreement.

We now understand that the agreement to cover the meat rooms as well as the stores was conducted in secret in an office of Woolies, Sydney.

Many years ago we, on the grocery floor, were deceived by our union and as a result lost our right in relation to hours of work to remove all the penalty rates which led to less take home pay.

Beware meat employees that we too were promised that the changes would only affect new employees (not us). We were not aware that making new employees cheaper than ourselves resulted in mistreatment of existing employees to encourage people to leave (it has been said and compared to bull’s eyes painted on people’s backs).

Meat department personnel need to be aware that new employees that commence after the 26^th September, 2011 will work compulsory rosters with no penalties, Mon – Fri, Sat (normal pay), Sun (reduced by 50%). These penalties are currently being paid to meat department employees. We, in the grocery section, once had these penalties too but through deception and an incompetent union (SDA) and a company management who is set on reducing wage costs which results in them as individuals receiving substantial bonuses in addition to their salaries.

Please do not hold the rest of the store responsible for what’s about to happen to you. If it were possible members of the RRR SDA group and grocery staff would have loved the opportunity to have become members of your union (Meat Union) which for so many years refused to enter into dishonest arrangements with Woolworths’ management. It is our understanding that when this current agreement finishes (some 9 months later) there is a possibility of you regaining your penalties. We would suggest that you don’t join our union (Sda) but maintain your current union membership with the Meatworkers.

We wish you every success in your endeavours to regain your conditions.

JOE DE BRYUEN HAS MISUSED HIS POSITION AS FEDERAL SECRETARY OF THE SDA IN MAKING COMMENTS IN RELATION TO GAY RELATIONSHIPS

2010-12-18T22:20:00.002+11:00

JOE DE BRYUEN HAS MISUSED HIS POSITION AS FEDERAL SECRETARY OF THE SDA IN MAKING COMMENTS IN RELATION TO GAY RELATIONSHIPS

Mr. DeBryen should keep his personal prejudices and religious beliefs to himself and not use his position of SDA leadership for outrageous comments. Gay relationships are a private matter as are heterosexual relationships and neither group needs outside interference.

The SDA is made up of many hundreds of thousands members with differing lifestyles, points of view, religious beliefs, political beliefs and we have the right to these individual beliefs.

Mr. De Bryen has been making public statements of late condemning the concept of gay marriage (gay union) . These lifestyle decisions should be left to individuals as they do not impinge on others. The private part of our blog has received numerous complaints in relation to Mr. De Bryen’s statements. He should be aware that there are a number of gay people who are members of the SDA as there are in all parts of society.

The RRR SDA GROUP believes that all people have the right to individual views but does promote equality irrespective of age, colour, gender or sexual preference.

We are extremely disappointed with the other members of the SDA executive, staff and reps, some of which are enlightened and non-prejudicial in nature. Why do you allow Joe De Bryen to misuse his position in the SDA. Your voices have been silent on the issue which gives the impression that all the SDA leadership think as Joe De Bryen does.

Mr. De Bryen’s public statements that have been publicized, aired on radio, screened on T.V. are a discredit to the SDA. He should be aware that he is becoming the rent-a-mouth being used by the media whenever they need negative comments.

There are a number of petitions circulating in different states, in particular, Queensland, by a group of students promoting individual freedoms and condemning Joe De Bruyen.

The blogsite is available for all members to use, in this case, a message to the executive to restrict themselves to industrial issues and not personal, private matters.

Should we join the National Union of Workers (NUW)?

2010-11-02T11:10:00.002+11:00

Under the heading of Unions Achieving, there is a newsletter which is being distributed by the National Union of Workers, who are trying to improve the conditions and payrates for their members at Woolworths.

You will also find an open letter addressed to the secretary of the NUW. We would invite all our members to make comment on the proposal.

Please click the below link:

http://reformsda.blogspot.com/2010/06/other-unions-achieving.html

Coles negotiations have commenced

2010-10-04T10:10:00.002+11:00

VICTORIAN ELECTION HAS BEEN HELD - other states soon to follow

2010-08-05T20:55:00.001+10:00

Interstate Elections - WA

2010-07-25T18:57:00.006+10:00

Please use this post for comments and information relating to the Western Australian election.

Interstate Elections - TAS

2010-07-25T18:57:00.005+10:00

Please use this post for comments and information relating to the Tasmanian election.

Interstate Elections - NT

2010-07-25T18:56:00.007+10:00

Please use this post for comments and information relating to the Northern Territory election.

Interstate Elections - SA

2010-07-25T18:56:00.006+10:00

Please use this post for comments and information relating to the South Australian election.

Interstate Elections - NSW

2010-07-25T18:55:00.006+10:00

Please use this post for comments and information relating to the New South Wales election.

Interstate Elections - ACT

2010-07-25T18:55:00.005+10:00

Please use this post for comments and information relating to the ACT election.

Interstate Elections - QLD

2010-07-25T18:54:00.001+10:00

Please use this post for comments and information relating to the Queensland election.

The Election is on!

2010-07-06T18:09:00.003+10:00

Nominations opened 1st July, 2010 and will close morning of 16th July, 2010.

Refer to the Election section for further information

Other Unions Achieving

2010-06-27T17:32:00.003+10:00

The Secretary,

National Union of Worker

Email //	info@nuw.org.au
Call //	1300 275 689
National //	833 Bourke St, Docklands VIC 3008

Dear Sir,

Our group which is known as RRR SDA GROUP, make this approach to your organization with an enquiry as to whether your union coverage extends to people in retail. The members within our group work for all the major retailers in Victoria but our main concentration is in both Coles Supermarkets and Woolworths.

We read with interest your recent flyer “Woolies are Bullies” which indicates your union’s preparedness to stand up for members in maintaining their conditions.

Our Coles members new EBA is currently being negotiated. We, the workforce, have not been notified as to whom is negotiating on our behalf or what the Union is seeking but we are fearful that at the end of negotiations we will be worst off.

Our Myer members report a similar situation.

Our Woolworths members were done over in our last agreement including some pretty underhanded manipulation of using membership numbers to extend their coverage.

We would ask your executive to consider extending membership to all SDA members. We would not expect your membership in other workplaces to do the job for us but your latest newsletter has shown that you are prepared to take it up to a large employer. There are many thousands of us current SDA members who are up to the task of fighting to defend our rights and conditions but unfortunately we are being held back by a leadership who lacks the ability to represent us in a non compliant fashion.

Our group feels the only hope for our future is to join with another union that will supply the leadership and direction to turn things around.

Our usual form of correspondence is through our blogsite http://ReformSDA.blogspot.com to make public comment or use our email address westajm@gmail.com for direct contact.

In closing we would like to point out that the recent SDA elections held between the current secretary and and unknown, unfunded storeman from Safeway, The Glen Shopping Centre, failed to attract or inspire members to vote. The majority of the membership are that disillusioned they failed to even cast a vote.

Yours sincerely,

RRR SDA GROUP

Examples of other unions achieving results for their members.

Coles National Agreement

2010-06-27T17:28:00.004+10:00

Negotiations for the Coles National Agreement have now commenced.
Follow its progress.

Who Deserves the Credit?

2010-06-27T16:56:00.014+10:00

What do you call a person, group or association that takes credit for other peoples work?

Downloads

2010-06-22T14:40:00.006+10:00

Below are documents for downloading to promote the blog site and the fact that something can be done in relation to replacing the incompetent leadership of the SDA. Please circulate as much as possible among retail workers including takeaway places.

Election Nominations and Candidates Profiles

2010-06-20T12:54:00.004+10:00

This post is for potential candidates to post information about themselves.
Please post a comment below with the relevant information.
We will notify the election dates once they have been announced.
It should be noted that State and Territory nomination and election dates will be advertised by the Australian Electoral Commission in the major newspaper of each State.
Further information should be available at the AEC website:
http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/AEC_Services/Industrial_Elections/index.htm

We are having a difficulty overcoming SDA censorship. There are approximately 300,000 of us members. We all have family and friends, some working in the media. We would ask that you use whatever contacts you have to raise the profile of the site. What we are attempting is a real David & Goliath situation and for candidates to have any hope of success they need to reach as many members as possible.

We are not attempting to influence how people vote, only providing an opportunity for members to express their democratic rights.

We would hope all candidates, both sitting and potential, let the membership know their plans for the future in relation to restoring a decent wage and conditions.

SDA News Bulletin

2010-06-01T23:02:00.001+10:00

SDA News Bulletin - Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party

Enterprise Agreement Survey 2010

2010-06-01T23:00:00.001+10:00

COLES Enterprise Agreement Survey 2010

Shop assistants sidelined as Vic ALP turns corner

2010-05-28T17:04:00.004+10:00

Read this article about the SDA in the ALP

Report on SDA/McDonald's agreement

2010-05-16T16:08:00.005+10:00

News Limited (Herald Sun/The Australian) has published an article on the proposed SDA/McDonalds agreement. The article says that 'McDONALD'S has been referred to the workplace watchdog for allegedly underpaying some workers after the industrial umpire threw out an enterprise agreement covering its 80,000 employees.'

You can see the full article here

DONOVAN LASHES OUT

2010-05-16T15:55:00.002+10:00

Michael Donovan, State Secretary of the SDA, is presently circulating a news bulletin titled "UNSIGNED BULLETINS". Below is our response:

Firstly, the RRR SDA GROUP is not affiliated in any way with any trade union or organisation. It is not there to promote itself or individuals but to encourage fellow SDA members to take an interest in the unions' future.

We have stated on numerous occasions that we are lacking in resources. All of our newsletters to date have carried a request for people to photocopy and pass on.

Our new blog site has been set up to allow SDA members the opportunity to express their opinions and to assist them to run campaigns for elected positions without incurring any individual cost as working people do no have the access that Mr. Donovan has to unlimited funds. He has viciously attacked the Meat Workers Union. We are aware that there are a large number of meat workers who are dissatisfied working under SDA agreements, in particular, the recent secret deal negotiated with Woolworths in Victoria.

There are many groups of people who are dissatisfied working under the SDA sub standard agreements. They are shop assistants, bakers, fruit & veg workers, office staff, warehouse workers and as of late, the McDonald's works; whose agreement was so bad that Fair Work Australia refused to register it. (In fact, a large number of the Australian population are dissatisfied and disappointed by the current SDA agreements).

We will not affiliate or be indebted to any union. We seek not and would not accept any financial assistance as this may result in compromising our independent objectives.

We do intend to approach various organisations for assistance in promoting the blog site where people can gain access to credible facts and information.

Mr. Donovan, in his latest newsletter, talk about protecting conditions and winning wage increases. Let's address these myths:

The wage increases are less than any other union manages to achieve. He talks about protecting penalty rates - I would remind you Mr. Donovan, you gave away the penalty rates. What penalty applies after 6:00pm? What penalty applies on Saturday? You reduced our 200% on Sunday, to 150%. You also reduced casual loading from 25% to 20% - ALL REDUCTIONS!

I must ask the question again, the EMPLOYERS SAVED a lot of money and the EMPLOYEES LOST a lot of money - so HOW DID YOU PROTECT OUR PENALTY RATES? I think in future correspondence you should remove any reference to penalty rates, as workers who have been employed in retail over a long period of time are aware that you are unable to protect them.

WHAT WAS YOUR MOTIVATION??????

We look forward to the time when you are voted out.

Our group takes this opportunity to thank our willing volunteers who have assisted with the delivery of our newsletter. SDA shop stewards and store management have been confiscating our past newsletter. Australia is supposed to be a free country where all people have a right to free speech - both written and spoken.

FURTHER INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED FROM OUR BLOG SPOT: http://reformsda.blogspot.com

WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE TIME WHEN EMPLOYERS WILL NO LONGER REFER TO THE SDA AS "OUR UNION"

What do we want?

2010-05-12T22:35:00.003+10:00

RESTORE SDA

The RRR SDA Group is committed to restoring conditions of work that have been given away by the current leadership of the SDA (Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association), that is:

Federal Secretary - Joe de Bruyn

State Secretary - Michael Donovan

This means that fellow shop assistants have to stand for elected positions and lead the fight to regain conditions that have been lost:

1. Restore a decent wage

2. Restore the casual loading to time + 25%

3. Remove the clause in the SDA agreement that gives employers the right to reduce part-time hours

4. Regain some control about compulsory hours that is having devastating effects on peoples’ personal relationships, family lives and quality of life in general

5. Remove compulsory work prior to 7am and after 6pm Monday to Friday

6. Re-introduce voluntary work on Saturdays and Sundays

2010-05-12T22:21:00.011+10:00

Welcome to Revolt Regain Restore SDA

We hope you will use this site to help restore our union

RRR SDA Group would like to acknowledge the concerns raised in the comments section:

1. The Group is Victoria based but is for the use of all States and Territories. We would ask that those people who have contacts interstate if they could send them copies of the Newsletter and encourage them to visit our website and inform fellow workers of the site address.

2. The Group is approximately 3 months old and the blog site 2 weeks old. Visits to the site are so numerous we will no longer refer to ourselves as a small group

3. Some of the matters raised on the comments section have caused great concern, the one relating to compulsory night and weekend work is more common than what you think and this is one of many reasons that led to the formation of the RRR SDA Group.

When weekends and nights were voluntary and the penalties were still in place there were always sufficient number of people who were glad to work nights and weekends for the additional pay. Since the removal of the Saturday rate and reduction of the Sunday rate and evening rates and the Employers right under the SDA Agreement to compulsory roster has caused great hardship with family life and personal relationships. There are instances where the rostering of these hours has been used as punishment or to encourage people to leave as a form of wage reduction. Most SDA Agreements have “grandfathering” clauses – which is the ability for employers to put on new people at a lesser rate of pay than the current workforce.

There appears to be a little bit of impatience being expressed by contributors to the site – the timetable to remove Mr. Donovan and his associates is governed by the next election. We need to maintain our ongoing campaign to make members aware that there are alternatives.

Sometime in the future those who are prepared to take on the task and attempt to restore basic rights and conditions will need to start their campaigns explaining what they stand for and generating support which eventually will be a vote for a new beginning.
We can’t stress how important it is that the membership are empowered to make changes.
This can only happen if everyone is made aware of alternatives.

Donovan in the past has not missed an opportunity to promote himself and has a bad habit of claiming credit for achievements actually won by the Union movement in general and the ACTU. One day we hope that the SDA will be welcomed at the Victorian Trades Hall Council.
There was a recent newsletter where he was claiming credit for Christmas Day public holiday, the introduction of industry superannuation –( a large number of Unions had super at least 10 years prior to the SDA), maternity leave – he has no right to claim credit which actually belongs to the ACTU and the Union movement in general.

Has anyone else noticed that one of the enticements to join the SDA is to get discount products? How does a union ever get into a position where there is cross promotion with employers to encourage membership with the SDA and the SDA to promote purchase of their products? The products that the employers and the SDA promote quite often are beyond our reach as our wages are so substandard we can’t afford to take advantage of what’s on offer.

I would recommend reading of the article on site titled “Shop Assistants Sidelined”. Even the most ardent supporter of the SDA would find the information alarming.

RRR SDA GROUP.

Revolt Regain Restore SDA

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

WE ALL MUST VOTE "NO"

WOOLIES ALERT

NEWSFLASH

TIME 10.45AM MONDAY, 23RD OCTOBER, 2011

Welcome meaties

Don't blame us

LAY DOWN WITH DOGS AND YOU WILL GET FLEAS

Why aren't the SDA running this campaign?

Intimidation and harrassment in Australian workplaces

Duopoly Coles and Safeway Ice Frigrite

CAMPAIGN TO CHANGE SDA FROM WITHIN

Hearing Transcript - Woolies / S.D.A. / A.M.I.E.U

Bullying

Coles Meat Agreement

Woolworths

Honest appraisal

NEWS FLASH - UNANIMOUS SUPPORT

Dracula's File

Important - please read

Vote No

Facebook Friends

BAD FEELINGS WITHIN WOOLWORTHS SUPERMARKETS

JOE DE BRYUEN HAS MISUSED HIS POSITION AS FEDERAL SECRETARY OF THE SDA IN MAKING COMMENTS IN RELATION TO GAY RELATIONSHIPS

Should we join the National Union of Workers (NUW)?

Coles negotiations have commenced

VICTORIAN ELECTION HAS BEEN HELD - other states soon to follow

Interstate Elections - WA

Interstate Elections - TAS

Interstate Elections - NT

Interstate Elections - SA

Interstate Elections - NSW

Interstate Elections - ACT

Interstate Elections - QLD

The Election is on!

Other Unions Achieving

Coles National Agreement

Who Deserves the Credit?

Downloads

Election Nominations and Candidates Profiles

SDA News Bulletin

Enterprise Agreement Survey 2010

Shop assistants sidelined as Vic ALP turns corner

Report on SDA/McDonald's agreement

DONOVAN LASHES OUT

What do we want?

TIME 10.45AM MONDAY, 23^RD OCTOBER, 2011