Your Rights at Work: Real people, real stories

Our children lose their rights under harsh new AWA individual contracts

tenika

Tenika Setter, a 17 year old casual employee from Wollongong, found her AWA meant she could finish a shift poorer than when she started.

"Under the AWA if the customer left without paying it came out of my wages. Just because you're young doesn't mean they should be able to do this," Tenika says.

Seventeen year old Renee Pittman from Carseldine was told to sign an AWA individual contract or miss out on a job. She had to work on Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day, as well as Sundays, all without penalty rates.

Watch Renee's story on YouTube

Like many young people getting their first job under the Howard Government's WorkChoices, Renee felt like her employer held all the cards.

awasrevelealed

Real people, real stories

Working Australians have an important decision to make at the Federal Election on November 24.

This short video takes you through some of the detail and background to the Howard Government's IR laws, WorkChoices. Real people who the laws affected also tell their stories.

An Important Choice (4 mins 50 secs)

More info:

View the video on YouTube here.

Download a one page factsheet with some real people's stories here.

Download the video to watch on your desktop here.

Mr Cruikshank's story

Out of nowhere, sacked on the spot: Until recently, 42 year old Andrew Cruickshank worked at Priceline as a well-paid space planner, coordinating the strategic placement of products at the retailer's chain of stores. One Friday, without warning, he was sacked for "operational reasons".
Impact on his family: Andrew and his wife Leanne, who live in Melbourne's outer suburbs, were using his salary to pay the mortgage and save up for a good education for their two children.

Operational reasons: Without warning or explanation, Andrew was made redundant under the Howard Government's WorkChoices laws. Leanne Cruickshank says "Andrew came home from work one Friday and told me he didn't have a job." He was simply told it was for "operational reasons".
Legal under WorkChoices: This is a completely legal reason to dismiss anyone under WorkChoices- regardless of the size of your workplace.

Watch Mr Cruikshank's story on YouTube

Companies use WorkChoices to save them money: Two weeks later the company re-advertised Mr Cruickshank's position offering a salary of $25,000 less. "The decision means that basically employers can get rid of anyone to save costs ...and then just employ someone cheaper... companies can just get rid of whoever they like now under the guise of saving money,'' says Andrew.

No legal recourse for Mr Cruikshank: This view was confirmed when Mr Cruickshank took his case for unfair dismissal to the Industrial Relations Commission.

The court ruled that under the Howard Government laws, the sacking was not illegal and that no legal recourse was available to him.

"Wrecked" his family: Mr Cruickshank says he was treated shabbily and at the forthcoming election all voters have an important choice to make about their working conditions. "I used to always vote Liberal, but this year the IR laws have wrecked my family and many other families - it needs to be stopped," he says.

Sacking on the spot a common story under WorkChoices: Queensland grandmother Annette Virgen was sacked for no reason this year, and her boss taunted her that John Howard's IR meant he could do whatever he liked. With less than 100 workers in his business, he could basically fire at will.

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