http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/no-paycheck-for-volunteer-firefighter/2009/02/21
No paycheck for volunteer firefighter February 21, 2009 - 8:48AM
A
Victorian aged care home did not pay a volunteer firefighter who
battled the Black Saturday bushfires, a union claims. The Health
Services Union (HSU) says the frontline firefighter was called to put
in containment lines around fires in Gippsland as part of a Country
Fire Authority strike team.
The HSU claims the volunteer was unpaid by her employer even
though some containment lines she worked on helped protect another of
the group's homes. "Sadly this employer is within their rights not to
pay our member but in light of the monumental generosity of the
community at large it beggars belief that they would choose not to pay
her," HSU Victoria assistant secretary Shaun Hudson said. "They are
recommending themselves to nobody. This worker has responded to a state
of emergency. "Many workplaces have policies in place to ensure that
emergency services volunteers are not financially disadvantaged by
their forced absence from work in the pursuit of protecting their local
communities.
The HSU said it would ask the royal commission into
the bushfires to ensure the wages of volunteer emergency services
workers were protected in the event of forced absences from work.
Comment was being sought from the employer.
MY COMMENT: along with Fosters Brewery which sacked some
volunterr fire fighters there seems to be a "free-market" competition
amongst bosses for who is the most challenged in the charm department.
What do we expect from capos ! ?
