Category Archives: job agency stories

I Was Forced To Work With Asbestos at Work for the Dole – A first hand account

Sandor Szolnoki, AUWU Member

Attention everyone: recently i was placed into a Work for the Dole (wftd) activity which was ok basically just painting a gymnasium, the supervisors on that project were good but that activity stopped after 2 months I had completed I was risk assessment prior and even trained in manual handling.

Now I’ve been placed into a new wfd that is renovating a old house without been risk assessed which i have to attend for another 6 months and the supervisor there is basically a slave driver and non safety compliant the second day I attended on the site he instructed me to remove soil to install paving which having a short look i FOUND ASBESTOS so i refused to work in that area.

The day before I removed some material from that area and NOW there is a possibility of ME being EXPOSED to ASBESTOS I put in a incident report with my supervisor who did not believe it was ASBESTOS so he collected the ASBESTOS material and took it to a ASBESTOS MANAGEMENT CENTER with me to doubt my belief that it was.The management center CONFIRMED THAT IT IS ASBESTOS AND ALSO WILL BE TESTED FOR GRADE and the dwelling was on the asbestos register but all asbestos was supposed to have been removed and there was a warning sticker on the window of the wfd house which my supervisor removed which stated before commencing work on site refer to ASBESTOS REGISTER which he did not . I have also contacted SAFE WORK SA who will be investigating the incident and I will pursuit to my best abilities I will relay they outcome of my situation as the investigation goes on so BEWARE any one who has to attend WFD and basically forced to do any unsafe work or in unsafe working conditions to avoid being cut off from centrelink benefits.

“My son has been cut off his payments every couple of months for as long as I can remember” – A Mother’s Story

I am writing this letter on behalf of my Austistic son who has
nominated me as a spokesperson since he is on the brink of suicide
again and is unable to put his owns words into any understandable
order. I don’t even know how to deal with it myself, since he
inherited the Autism gene from me (I’m on DSP incidentally).

My son’s story to date is almost identical to Leigh Markovic’s story.

My son was first diagnosed in 2009 by our family autism specialist due
to difficulties in dealing with Centrelink and employment agencies
which caused him great despair and depression. A few months later that
specialist received accreditation as an ‘approved’ Centrelink DMV
authority who strongly recommended my son be put on DSP due to lack of
disability services within Newstart programs. Centrelink said “he’s
young enough to cope” and denied our application. A few months later
the government changed the table of provisions and as a direct result,
our family specialist is no longer approved by Centrelink.

Fortunately, we did find an industry where my son was able to cope and
possessed the skills required (and then some). His father and I
recommended he might get a foot in the door if he volunteered to sweep
floors or answer phones for a potential employer to demonstrate
initiative. The very day my son was given an opportunity to sweep
floors and answer phones voluntarily, he was meant to attend an
appointment with his employment agent. He thought he had it in the bag
and, like Leah, decided he didn’t need unemployment benefits anymore
and let it lapse.

Since prior to my son employment opportunity I was receiving a
carer-payment for him, I immediately rang Centrelink to let them know
he wasn’t living with me anymore and (as his nominee) why he felt he
didn’t need benefits anymore. The person who took my call read out
what she was writing on his records as she wrote “Mother called to
report son is working in paid employment”. I interrupted her and said
“No, that’s not what mother called for” and repeated myself. She spoke
over the top of me and said “I’m in charge of what is written at this
end, not you”. I was muted several times and handed over to her
manager etc until eventually I hung up in tears.

A week later, my son was sent a letter stating he had to pay back 6
months worth of benefits – that is – 6 months prior to the date he
started sweeping floors. I suspect he’s almost finished paying it
today and it can’t be recovered but thought it was note-worthy for the
purpose of the exercise. The next part is what grinds my gears right
now.

My son demonstration of initiative paid off and, ultimately, he
obtained the necessary training and qualifications required of the
(currently growing and under skilled) industry to operate as a full
time skilled employee. In fact, he went one better and became a
specialist in laser technologies associated with the industry. That
was until the government introduced new laws which meant, if he
continued being employed by his current employer, he would never work
in the industry again. So he quit and started paying back the
Centrelink debt.

Along with those new laws came a government license requirement at a
hefty $800 and no guarantee of obtaining it, regardless of skill level
or niche. Like Leah, his employment agents keep saying they can’t pay
for the license and I’ve written to my local members numerous times
over the years trying to get some action on it, to no avail.

My son has been cut off his payments every couple of months for as long
as I can remember for much the same reasons/patterns as Leah. He was
cut off again last fortnight because, one street away from his
appointment venue he had a panic attack and refused to get out of my
car. We had a huge meltdown with each other and he swore at me and ran
away. The last time he did this (last year) I found him under a
bridge with a rope in his hand saying he’d be better off hanging,
which I reported to the Minister via my local member.

I just can’t keep pushing the government’s agenda down his throat
anymore. It’s literally killing him! I don’t support pushing him into
jobs where, by default, he can’t perform and will undoubtedly be fired
over and over again, thus diminishing what little self-respect he has
left.

He’s not even allowed to advocate ASD on his resume, they keep saying
it’s a negative attribute but I’m telling you, if you want super-human
skills and abilities in this industry he’s the right man for the job.
As far as we see it, he worked very hard to get where he is and
deserves an opportunity to work in his chosen career.

I don’t understand why we can’t simply accept he’s only ever going to
have one single skill that he’s good at and help him back on his feet.
He can walk into a job tomorrow, there has never been any shortage of
offers, it’s only ever been the government stopping him.

“I came close to committing suicide because of the way Max treated me” – A First Hand Account

The subject of t his article and the treatment Leigh Markovic endured by Max Employment is exactly the same mental abuse I was subjected to by Max in my short time I was forced to be aligned with them.

I cannot stay quiet about what they did to me any longer, and people have a right to know about it and that it is not an odd isolated incident, but commonplace as well as ILLEGAL. Their abuse forced me onto anti-depressants and ruined my life and my health. I have paperwork to back this claim up. Imagine trying to send someone with chronic Osteoarthritis to strip dirty mattresses on a factory production line, even though they are clearly medically exempt and you just ignore a qualified assessment by a medical professional. The more I protested their actions, the more punitive they became. All the time, a job was sitting there available I was perfectly qualified for – except that employed people are no use to you because you can’t make money from them, so Max didn’t bring it to my attention.

I came close to committing suicide because of the way Max treated me – I couldn’t see any or any point in going on. I an very grateful to the team of medical professionals that basically supported me through this ordeal. Without them I would not be here. I am glad that people are now coming out publicly about their stories. It’s hard to talk about, and I didn’t want to do it but I feel I must at this point.I hate to think of how many people have taken their own lives at the hands of treatment from Max’s ‘business.’ I use business in inverted commas because it’s a fraudulent organisation so that makes them criminals. Most people have seen the Four Corners investigation on Max’s multi-million dollar rorts including falsifying clients’ signatures on paperwork. So this is not an opinion, it is a fact they are criminals. What did the current government do about it? They awarded them a contract that’s worth close to a billion dollars and called them ‘the best in the business.’

I cannot wait until Max are subject to a class action suit. I’ll be in, for sure. And you can’t say it’s ‘just a job’ and you’re working for someone else who makes the rules. You know how well that worked out at Nuremberg. That is a pathetic excuse. You are personally responsible for this. If you think you’ll get away with it, you won’t. It will catch up with you.

I’ll never stop activism against fraudulent, criminal organisations like Max and their treatment of the unemployed. And they ARE criminals because they break the law at every turn and then blatantly lie about it, thinking they will get away with it every single time.

Read the government deed beginning to end, then back to front, and then read it again and you’ll see. Then use ALL of it AGAINST them.

“Job providers are determined to keep people unemployed” – A First Hand Account

I have found my own work experience for 2 days per week, from January 2016 onwards. I was happy with the work experience, but my health had started to suffer in ways I could never have imagined. I hadn’t known it yet, but I had started going through the very severe symptoms of menopause.
In February 2016, the job provider tried to bully me into obtaining employment with the place I was doing work experience with. They made a date in March for which they knew that I would be completing my required work experience. When I called to ask them to change the day to something where I would not be breaching my job requirements with them, they told me that I had no idea what my requirements were and that I had to go in for another interview, where they would be putting me on Work for the Dole instead. I had hoped to one day receive employment with the place I was doing work experience, and had repeatedly asked whether I would be obtaining employment, but the bullying nature of the job provider ensured that went out the window.

It appears that the job providers are determined to keep people unemployed. They use whatever tactics they can to keep people on their books, rather than to find viable employment.

I ended up on a Centrelink sickness benefit for a few months, in order to find the best course of action for my menopause. I also changed job provider, and have been given slightly more humanity than with the previous job provider. In addition, I made a complaint against the previous job provider to the Department of Employment about the bullying tactics of the previous job provider. I’m not sure it went anywhere.

Work for the Dole Occupation Health and Safety Win!

21 January 2016

By Daniel, AUWU member.

Today was our second day on work for the dole.

The first day was hot: 32 degrees, no biggie. Today, it was 34.9 degrees at 11.30, currently writing this at 2.20 pm it is 39 degrees.

Yesterday we all discussed what action would take place once the temperature hit a certain point.

Our supervisors said that if the temperature reached 35 degrees we would be sent home due to the nature of the work (gardening and setting up for the next 24 weeks for a few other activities).

That point came today. The supervisors called the Work For the Dole manager at the Job Network.

I heard bits of the phone call and afterwards the Work for the Dole Coordinator (the boss of all the supervisors) told me that we were staying.

The Work for the Dole manager at the Job Network said she wanted an email before the start of the day, advising her of the chance of weather reaching this point so she could clear it and notify us all.

So we broke for lunch. Returned to the site an hour later. It was really hot. No one was working. We found some shade and bunkered down. A man in his 50’s came forward. He was from a different job agency i think. Earlier in the day he had let everyone know he was in recovery from very serious cancer.

The supervisor noted that and kept him out of the sun. Approaching my supervisor after lunch I could see he was with the man with cancer and was having a heated discussion on his phone with someone. Our supervisor said he was sending him home as he wasn’t going to have him becoming sick and it want going to be on him if he did. The man with cancer was sent home with apologies from the supervisor.

This is when I got fed up. First place I called was work cover. I asked about temperatures and was told there is no legislation for this but you must be working in a safe work environment. I was informed that I should ask about the risk assessment and if it had a temperature clause in it. It didn’t.

I then called The Australian Unemployed Workers Union and spoke to Owen Bennett. I advised Owen that the supervisors wanted to send every one home, but were being prevented by the Job Network.

Very quickly he explained to me a section of the jobactive Work for the Dole Coordinator Deed have regarding a safe work environment:

“The Work For The Dole coordinator must, in accordance with any guidelines directed by the department, conduct a risk assessment of each particular work for the dole place that it identifies for the purpose of this Deed so as to:
… (b)identify any work health and safety issues with the potential Work For the Dole place and what steps will be taken to address those issues
…(d) confirm that the potential Work For The Dole host organisation is satisfied it has current and adequate work health and safety policies and procedures in place to deliver the activities in the Work for the Dole place safely”

WFTD pic I confirmed with him that we had all put down our tools and were sitting in the shade. Owen also said that this is against work for the dole guidelines to have us sitting down doing nothing. According to theWork for the Dole guideline, an activity “must provide job seekers with the opportunity to gain skills, experience and confidence to move from welfare to work while at the same time making a positive contribution to their local community”.

With these two bits of information I took it to my supervisor and said all of the above. I said no matter what job network says you have the call on safety and sending us home.

He took it to his supervisor and everyone was sent home two minutes later.