Further set back for Coles workers

In the wake of the sacking of 1000 warehouse workers in Sydney and Melbourne by Coles, the company has further betrayed those sacked. After suggesting that positions would be available for those workers wanting to be redeployed, it announced on July 19 that only three managerial positions and a handful of casual positions would be available for the 440 workers sacked from the Somersby warehouse.

"The casual positions offer reduced wages and no guaranteed permanency", Derrick Belan, NSW secretary of the National Union of Workers, said. "The offer of managerial roles would not be suitable for warehouse workers because the warehouse workers are decent people. Obviously, to be in a managerial position for Coles you have to be heartless and totally indifferent to the plight of others.

"This is another outrageous insult to the Somersby workers and to the Central Coast community."

Graham Matthews

From Green Left Weekly, July 26, 2006.

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From GLW issue 676