Susan Price, Sydney
Carmen Walacz Vel Walewska picked mushrooms for a living until she was sacked on July 27 for resisting signing an individual contract. The contract reduced her pay to $16.50 per hour, below the award rate, and removed all penalty rates.
Imperial Mushrooms, located in western Sydney, threatened to cut Walacz Vel Walewska's pay to $12.80 per hour if she didn't sign the Australian Workplace Agreement. As well, "They wanted me to sign there and then. If I didn't, I would be put 'on call', which meant I could wait three to four weeks for a day's work. They didn't let me think about it", she told an August 4 Unions NSW Council meeting.
Walacz Vel Walewska reluctantly signed the contract then contacted the Australian Workers Union. She also started informing her workmates and questioning her boss about her new conditions. Two weeks later she was sacked while on her rostered day off, supposedly because of a complaint against her and "poor performance".
Walacz Vel Walewska told Green Left Weekly that she was speaking out about her experience, "not just for myself, but for the other ladies still working there. I want to prove to them and to my boss that they can't walk over us like that."
The AWU is campaigning for Walacz Vel Walewska's reinstatement and Unions NSW passed a motion condemning Imperial Mushrooms' actions. A protest will be held at 7am on August 12 outside Imperial Mushrooms at 888 Londonderry Road, Londonderry.
From Green Left Weekly, August 10, 2005.
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