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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-10 Daily Xml
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RETAIL WORKERS

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:52): I rise to speak about the exploitation of retail workers in South Australia and particularly the exploitation of young retail workers. Many young retail workers in South Australia who are being exploited are actually unaware of or too scared to exercise their rights. Some of the points that I wish to make today may illustrate gaps in existing legislation that should be protecting workers.

Many shop assistants are signing contracts that require them to pay an exorbitant amount of money from their salary for the clothing that is described as their uniform. This uniform for a retail worker often consists of the current seasonal stock which is always evolving and always changing. In one case, a staff member who was hired as a Christmas casual at Sportsgirl was told that she could no longer wear the skirt she had bought as a uniform after only one wear because it had already moved to the sale rack and she should be wearing full-priced stock only.

Many shoe stores similarly prescribe that staff wear that store's current season shoes. While seemingly generous staff discounts between 10 and 50 per cent do apply to these items, many staff are spending most or a considerable portion of their relatively low wages to fulfil their contractual obligations. They are earning about $20 an hour for an adult rate—let's not even get into the youth rate—and yet they are being expected to pay most of that on the so-called uniform of the current season stock. Additionally, many are not told either verbally or within their contract that they can often claim some of these shoes and clothing as a tax deduction.

In numerous retail stores, staff are also not being paid for the hours that they work outside of shopping hours. Many staff fulfil duties including cleaning the store, preparing it for opening or banking at the end of the day outside opening hours and these duties can actually be quite lengthy, especially during busy periods such as the Christmas season or on weekends.

Now, some stores do the right thing, but many do not pay staff for those hours spent folding clothes, cleaning the store and counting the money. Concerns have also been raised with my office about the level of security provided for these workers when counting the money at the end of their shifts, especially given the majority of these workers are, in fact, young females.

Another complaint that I have received regarding exploitation in the retail sector relates to trial shifts, that many, many staff are actually asked to do before they gain a position in the store. One woman complained that she worked an eight-hour shift at Witchery, without pay, and was never notified about why she had not got the position, despite a phone call follow-up. Heaven forbid that stores are actually giving people trial shifts instead of employing people for vast amounts of their work. The Greens are concerned that this is not an isolated incident.

Startlingly, some shop assistants have also complained that store managers asked female employees to wear high heels in their shifts, often on hard, wooden, tiled or concrete floors for periods of eight hours or more. Three in 20 young people are employed in the retail sector in this state. More needs to be done to ensure that retail workers are protected and treated more fairly by the companies that employ them.

One particular case study I will give is of a 25-year-old worker who worked in retail up until a few weeks ago. She was expected to wear the clothing of that particular store and she says:

We were given between 15 and 30 per cent off the items and at this particular store if you bought a cropped cardigan it would cost you around $80. Working as a casual, it was [quite] hard. [They] had a lot of clothes coming in all the time. You'd buy it one week and the next week it wouldn't be in the shop anymore.

We were...expected [however] to come in early for our shifts. I was even pulled aside a couple of times (by the manager) and told that I needed to get there 15-20 minutes before my shift [started] and I was expected to clean up before the store opened.

When it closed, at 5pm 'we weren't allowed to start closing off the system until that time'.

So, she would usually be working at least half an hour over the time she was actually getting paid for. She also had a friend who worked in Supre, and they had a similar policy where the staff had to wear the clothing. Fortunately for that friend, the clothing is a bit cheaper there. However, the seasons in Supre changed very, very quickly and they would, in fact, be given specific items that they were told they had to buy as their uniform when the store was doing a particular promotion.

I will be launching on Facebook a campaign to explore this issue. I look forward to working with other members in this chamber to provide better treatment for our young people. As I say, three in 20 young South Australians work in this sector, and far too many are being exploited. I look forward to working with you all to address these issues.

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