Bilan
1st January 2009, 10:55
UNION organisers claim childcare workers previously employed at the 55 ABC Learning Centres that closed yesterday are being re-employed on lower conditions.
The federal Government and receivers McGrathNicol said every child who had been enrolled at the closed centres had been offered a place at a nearby facility.
They also said 600 of the 700 who had worked in the closed centres had been re-employed in centres close by.
But the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union said many of those re-employed had been offered fewer hours or fewer conditions at some of the remaining 969 ABC centres.
"The main ones are centre directors," said LHMU national secretary Louise Tarrant. "We'll be talking to the receivers early in the new year about keeping those jobs up.
"If there's going to be the same number of children to look after then you need at least the same number of people to look after them."
The director of the ABC Learning Centre at Cooloongup in Perth's suburban fringe, Cathy Royle, was offered a position at another childcare centre, but it involved a drop in pay of $7 an hour, so she has refused the offer.
The Cooloongup ABC Centre, like most of the 55 which closed yesterday, was stripped of furnishings and toys while the children were present, sometimes still playing with them.
Ms Royle said the centre, which cared for almost 50 children, was one of the busier in the area, near the coastal town of Rockingham, south of Perth.
"Initially, when I first heard it was closing, I though it must be my fault," she said.
Ms Royle said the centre was like a second home for the children, many of whom attended for more than eight hours a day, five days a week. "It's a big chunk out of their lives -- we basically become part of the family."
Ms Royle was concerned many of the children would find it difficult to fit in at their new daycare centres. "The children will be affected. Yes, they are resilient and they do bounce back but people don't realise how things can affect them -- it can be a major disruption."
Source. (http://www.revleft.com/vb/UNION%20organisers%20claim%20childcare%20workers%2 0previously%20employed%20at%20the%2055%20ABC%20Lea rning%20Centres%20that%20closed%20yesterday%20are% 20being%20re-employed%20on%20lower%20conditions.)
The federal Government and receivers McGrathNicol said every child who had been enrolled at the closed centres had been offered a place at a nearby facility.
They also said 600 of the 700 who had worked in the closed centres had been re-employed in centres close by.
But the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union said many of those re-employed had been offered fewer hours or fewer conditions at some of the remaining 969 ABC centres.
"The main ones are centre directors," said LHMU national secretary Louise Tarrant. "We'll be talking to the receivers early in the new year about keeping those jobs up.
"If there's going to be the same number of children to look after then you need at least the same number of people to look after them."
The director of the ABC Learning Centre at Cooloongup in Perth's suburban fringe, Cathy Royle, was offered a position at another childcare centre, but it involved a drop in pay of $7 an hour, so she has refused the offer.
The Cooloongup ABC Centre, like most of the 55 which closed yesterday, was stripped of furnishings and toys while the children were present, sometimes still playing with them.
Ms Royle said the centre, which cared for almost 50 children, was one of the busier in the area, near the coastal town of Rockingham, south of Perth.
"Initially, when I first heard it was closing, I though it must be my fault," she said.
Ms Royle said the centre was like a second home for the children, many of whom attended for more than eight hours a day, five days a week. "It's a big chunk out of their lives -- we basically become part of the family."
Ms Royle was concerned many of the children would find it difficult to fit in at their new daycare centres. "The children will be affected. Yes, they are resilient and they do bounce back but people don't realise how things can affect them -- it can be a major disruption."
Source. (http://www.revleft.com/vb/UNION%20organisers%20claim%20childcare%20workers%2 0previously%20employed%20at%20the%2055%20ABC%20Lea rning%20Centres%20that%20closed%20yesterday%20are% 20being%20re-employed%20on%20lower%20conditions.)