One of the last acts of the Federal Labor government was a change to the Right of Entry legislation, where, if the Union and the Employer could not agree on a place to hold meetings, then the lunchroom would become the default area.
Where in the past some employers placed Organisers in a room that was not conducive to members wanting to come and talk to the Union regarding their problems, this change seemed to be the answer to our problems. Unfortunately some employers are so hell bent on keeping their employees in the dark as to what their workplace rights are, they will go to ridiculous lengths to keep the AMIEU out of the lunchroom.
At the present time we have two employers who have applied to the FWC to restrict the place and frequency of Union visits citing various reasons ranging from the company having to divert significant resources to accommodate visits, to how long visits extend and how often Organisers can visit.
One employer has tried to place ridiculous limitations on what the AMIEU Organiser can do and say while in the lunchroom, eg; not allowed to place Union information on tables, not allowed to address workers as a group, even going so far as to ban the Organiser from taking electronic devices into the lunchroom. This behavior begs the question:
“WHAT HAVE THESE EMPLOYERS GOT TO HIDE??”
We will continue to service our members and keep them up to date on industry news, legislation and Workplace Health and Safety changes, whether that be by way of frequent lunchroom meetings or through our updated website or the soon to be introduced phone app.
Your Union is constantly looking at ways to better communicate with our members. The new phone app will be available shortly with some great deals from well known retail outlets. It will also give us the ability to send out information updates in real time.