QANTAS valet staff were called "bloodsucking vampires" by a manager, it has been claimed, and were forced onto Australian Workplace Agreements that cut pay and conditions. A report by the State Government's Workplace Rights Advocate found that employees at the valet service were likely to be "considerably worse off" under agreements they were offered.
Advocate Tony Lawrence called for further investigation of the issue by federal agencies.
The dispute, first revealed by The Age in mid-February, affected about 70 valet staff at Melbourne Airport and about 170 nationwide. Many were lowly paid, earning about $33,000 a year.
The valet staff were told by a new contractor of the service, Equity Valet, that if they wanted a job they must sign AWAs. Previously the staff — who wore Qantas uniforms but were not employed by the airline — had been employed by Hertz on a collective agreement.
The move to push them onto the new work agreements came shortly before the abolition of AWAs.
The advocate's report aired claims of duress, which is against the law, and the valet staff were told by a manager:
■Their positions had been advertised on a job website and that the company did not want to employ "troublemakers".
■They had 24 hours to indicate whether they wanted to "continue with the employment process" and company.
■They were called staff "bloodsucking vampires" after they asked for better conditions.
■Employees were berated for their public campaign against the AWAs.
Equity Valet director John Demetre did not respond to questions from the advocate in its report or return calls from The Age.Australian Services Union branch secretary Ingrid Stitt said the union had been vindicated by the report after it had said staff could lose about $150 a week from the loss of penalties and conditions.
"Equity Valet Parking rushed these AWAs through in the dying days of WorkChoices and the advocate has found that workers will be significantly worse off under the individual contracts," Ms Stitt said.
She said only a handful of the 30 union members at Melbourne Airport are now working for Equity Valet, with some unemployed and others finding new jobs after refusing to sign AWAs. Ms Stitt wants fresh negotiations with the company.
Mr Lawrence called for further investigation into the matter by the Commonwealth Workplace Ombudsman, which has the power to seek fines.
Mr Lawrence said it was not clear that the issue of duress had been considered in an earlier ombudsman's investigation.
That report, released in March, found that as there was no "transmission of business" between Hertz and Equity Valet, it was lawful for the new contractor to offer AWAs.
A spokeswoman for the Workplace Ombudsman said it had just received the advocate's report and would consider a fresh investigation.
Mr Lawrence's report said there was evidence employees would lose pay and conditions, despite an offer of a 4% pay rise by Equity Valet.
"In my view, this increase is insufficient to cover the potential loss of penalty rates, overtime, loadings and other conditions," Mr Lawrence's report said.
The advocate also found there were other possible breaches of the Workplace Relations Act, including the agreements not passing the fairness test.
