Major Charity Defends Industrial Record
3 November 2011 at 12:18 pm
The Smith Family have defended themselves over allegations in the Sydney Morning Herald that they sacked 6 workers and "walked away from payrise negotiations with factory workers."
The SMH said when the charity learnt that 22 factory workers were planning industrial action last Friday, it dismissed six of them on the spot.
However the Smith Family told Pro Bono Australia that it no longer owns or controls the company in question – Non-Woven Textile Operation, which was sold in July this year.
"The management and all decisions relating to this business are the responsibility of the new owners United Bonded Fabrics and not The Smith Family. Therefore all decisions relating to this business are made by the new owners United Bonded Fabrics and not The Smith Family," a spokeswoman for The Smith Family said.
It’s true that the Non-woven Textile Operation has been sold to United Bonded Corporation last July 2011 but the employees are still under the payroll of the Smith Family. Up until this year, there was always an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement to both side of the Commercial Division (textile -which handles the businessof donated clothing and household materials ) and the Nonwoven Division manufacturers of Non woven Products , such as felts, wipes, filters panel boards and auto panels, carpet underlays. But because of the planned sale, earlier in the year theyrefuse to negotiate with the employees,however the other business(textile) they negotiated for a 1 year agreement. What we were asking was for us to be treated the same way as its still toward the end of the monththat the sale will be fully closed, in that way, while some will be made redundant as the business was not sustainable anymore with the number of employed,due to various reasons,we were hoping that a 6 month equivalent of pay rise will help those that will be made redundant in a small amount at least whilst the remaining employees who will be absorb by the new owner will have a higher rate to begin with.
It seems that people running The Smith Family cares to remember for the disadvantaged but forgot to be charitable to its employees who were supposed to be its partners in helping run a business for more than 20 years and contributed in building what the Company it is today