A group of cleaners facing the sack are furious for not being given a redundancy package and offered new jobs in New Zealand.
The four women, all aged in their 50s, from Wollongong in New South Wales will have to hang up pack up their buckets when they are made unemployed on Wednesday.
Two of the women worked for Spotless, which is based in Melbourne, for 14 years and have attacked the company they served for more than a decade.
Panayota Tzolakidis (lett) and Helen Hammond (right) have spoken out about their anger after being told they will not be offered redundancy pay
When the company decided not to renew their contracts they were offered positions elsewhere, The Age reports.
The closest was an hour’s drive away in Nowra but they say the role did not offer enough hours on a casual basis as opposed to the full-time jobs they are leaving.
Most of the vacancies they were able to consider were in New Zealand in jobs other than cleaning.
The women say they are angry at being offered no redundancy pay – but the company insists it has done nothing illegal.
Union bosses have slammed the decision by Spotless saying the move is ‘heartless and immoral’ and called the suitability of current workplace laws into question.
Spotless has its head office based in St Kilda Road, Melbourne, and insists it has done nothing illegal
Lynne Davies, 58, said she was ‘disgusted’ and did not want to leave a job she loved.
She told The Age she felt it would be hard for her to find another job and was too young to retire.
Helen Hammond has worked for Spotless for 14 years alongside Ms Davies at an elderly care centre.
The 56-year-old added she needed to keep working.
Meanwhile, Panayota Tzolakidis said she was upset at the lack of positions on offer.
None of the women have been offered a redundancy pay package for their service as cleaners
‘I’m not an electrician,’ The Age reports. ‘I’ve been working for 30 years as a cleaner. I’ve still got bills to pay.’
Spotless maintains everything it has done is within the law and said it was common for staff to have their employment terminated at the end of a specific contract.
A spokesman said: ‘Spotless’ view is that it can rely on the [ordinary and customary turnover of labour] exception to redundancy pay when employees lose their jobs due to the end of the client contract,’
This is a part of the Fair Work Act which states employees can be given redundancy pay if they are no longer required unless it is due to ‘ordinary and customary turnover of labour’.