Aboriginal Hostels Ltd accused of changing work conditions for employees
The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU) has accused Aboriginal Hostels Limited (AHL) of taking an unnecessarily hard-line against its workers by introducing individual contracts (Australian Workplace Agreements – AWA’s) that cut conditions, despite operating at a profit over the past few financial years.
As AHL is a non-profit organisation, and fully funded by the Australian Government, any profit it makes is repaid to the Federal Government. The LHMU represents workers employed by AHL.
“AHL’s hard-line stance seems to have come as a directive from their bosses in the Federal Government. If the workforce doesn’t want to sign these AWA’s that cut
their conditions, their only option is to stay with the existing collective agreement with no pay rises,” Tim Ferrari, assistant national secretary of the LHMU, has claimed.
“As one of the bigger employers of Indigenous Australians we had hoped to see AHL lead by example. We had hoped AHL would ensure Indigenous workers enjoy adequate pay and conditions negotiated on a transparent collective basis in good faith with
the aim of achieving quality outcomes for all.”