NEWS FLASH - UNANIMOUS SUPPORT

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

Important - please read

Vote No

Facebook Friends

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

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

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)?

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

VICTORIAN ELECTION HAS BEEN HELD - other states soon to follow