Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association’s Shlok Sharma says 15 workers have left the industry since a 20-year-old bottle shop attendant was killed

Transcript

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association’s Shlok Sharma says 15 workers have left the industry since a 20-year-old bottle shop attendant was killed · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As I was mentioning just a couple of moments ago,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: we know that tougher trespassing laws. It is something that
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Union for Retail and Fast Food Workers have been
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: pushing for for some time, and last week, well it happened.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Business owners are now going to have more powers to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: issue and enforce warnings to trespasses under new laws passed
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: by the Northern Territory government. So under the bill, legal
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: occupiers and NT police can issue individuals, including youth, with
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a direction to leave a premises for up to seven days.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: A warning to stay off can also be issued, banning
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: an individual from entering a premises for up to twelve months.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Now the offense can result in arrest and a possible
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: prison term of up to six months or a fine
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: of up to three thousand, two hundred and forty dollars.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Now Shlock Shama from the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Association joins me on the line right now.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Schlock, Good morning Gatie.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: What's your response to the new laws.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Well, we think that this is a good and rational
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: step taking by the government. The old Trespath Act was
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: difficult to use to a point where industry and retailers
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: just gave up on The feedback that we received was
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: was that it was hard to issue a notice, It
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: was unclear who could issue a notice, and concerningly, concerningly
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: for notices to be effective, and two individuals were required
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: to directly engage violent and abuse of customers and not
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: only hand them a physical notice, but to make sure
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: that they understood it. And we know that there is
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: a cohort of troublemakers in the community who are armed
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: and dangerous, and we felt that the onus on retailers
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and business owners was just too high and unworkable and
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: we needed to see change. And I mean as a union,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: you know, we had no way to compel employers to
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: take steps to better protect their workers because the legislation
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: at the time prevented any action from being taken just
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: because it was heavy hazi. And we felt that the
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: government needed to make a change the Act, and that's
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: why we partnered with industry groups like the Chamber of
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Commerce and called on the government to the government to
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: change the act.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: So by the sounds of things, those changes, the changes
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: are in line with what you were calling for. Yep.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: We think that it is a good and simple change
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: to the Act and it will make it easier for
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: businesses to issue trespass notices to ban violence and abuse
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: of customers.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Schlock. I know a lot of people are going to
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: be listening this morning thinking to themselves, will it make
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: a huge difference, because in some situations, shop owners or
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: property owners going to be putting themselves in a dangerous
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: situation by having to issue those notices.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Look, one of the things that the Act clears up
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: is is it clears up how a verbal notice can
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: be delivered. Basically, it lowers the evidentiary requirement that a
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: business owner has to prove in court if they just
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: want to issue a verbal notice. I should say that,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: you know, like our advocacy on this issue was never
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: based on, you know, making a Trespass Act to act
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: as a silver bullet to solve all the issues we
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: have in store. Our simple expectation of the government is
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: is that above everything else, that they need to prioritize
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: the safety of our members. And we think that, yeah,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: this was a simple step that could take here and
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: now to just make their lives a little bit safer.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Do you expect that the changes will sort of I mean,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that you're hoping that it is going to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: help to keep staff safe.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Look, we certainly are like, we certainly believe that, you know,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: increasing fines and jail sentences for repeated breaches of trespass orders,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: you know, making it easier for police to take enforcement
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: action and empowering security guards to step in an issue
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: notices our steps which should increase the lives of our members.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: But look, like, like I said, we don't expect this
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to be a silver bullet, and we think it will
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: make and it will make a positive incremental difference to
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: the lives of our members.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Now, I know, following on from the deaths of Decklan Lavity,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: you told us that you'd been contacted by workers concerned
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: about going to work. Have we seen people resign or
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: leaving the industry or how are things going a week on?
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Look, we're certainly aware of fifteen bottle shop workers that
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: have left the industry all together. They've pretty much told
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: us that it's not worth writting your life to go
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: into work and they'd rather try something else, or even
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: you know, being unemployed for a short period of time
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: rather than going into work. Wow, it is like it
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: is going to add a lot of stress to the
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: workers that are left, and we're certainly calling on all
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: employers to work with their staff and operate in a
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: way in which the staff are comfortable comfortable working in.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: If that means you know, shutting earlier or restricting the
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: way that trade operates, we're certainly calling on employees leave
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: all options on the table.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: So Schlock, did you say fifteen have already left over
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the last week.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Look, that's what we're aware of. The numbers probably higher
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: than that.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Wow, I mean, like, honestly, I'm not overly surprised, though
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I suppose.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, they're doing it tough. Tough. I mean generally,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: you know, the workers and who work in exposed locations,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: they are quite that they are still very raddled from
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: from last week's horrible, horrible tragedy. And look, I think
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: that's why we are certainly calling on the government to
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: prioritize the workplace safety review that they announced last week.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: You know, when, where and how our exposed workers in
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: the recent hospitality industry are currently working needs to be
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: looked at because we know that they can't even sorry
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: to continue to work in settings where they're coming face
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: to face with armed members of the community. And threatened
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: with their lives and so.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Mate, So you've have you spoken again into the government
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: about that or you know, or is or is this
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: you call out really that they need to they need
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to make that happen really quickly.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's my call out to the government. We
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: have met with government and they certainly are making it
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: a priority. But our call out to them is is
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: that we need this to happen sooner rather than later.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Schlock, are you worried that you're going to end up
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: with more than fifteen people, you know, leaving leaving bottle
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: shops because they are afraid to go to work.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Look, we are certainly afraid of that, and you know,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: obviously that will mean that some sites won't be able
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: to open. Like obviously the workers are our bottle shops
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: of some of the lowest paid workers in the country
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: and for a lot of them, not going to work
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: isn't an option. You know, getting an extra shift or
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: two can can be the difference between making rental, you know,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: making sure that they can that they can buy groceries
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: for the week. So well, we think you know the
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: government has taken some positive steps and reassuring our members
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: that their safety is a priority. But obviously, you know,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: we need to do to take a good look at
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the nature of their work they do to give them
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: the confidence they need to stay in the industry.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Mate, do you reckon I mean, look, you may or
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: may not be able to answer this, but it was
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: something that somebody texts through just before about the BDR.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: And you know, when people do actually have to refuse
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: service to some people, whether that becomes a dangerous situation.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: How big an impact do you reckon that that is
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: potentially having on staff when they're serving people in bottle shops.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Look, I mean it is a point where you know,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: an incident can occur. I mean, you know, this is
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: why we're calling on employers and regulators to look at
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: things like you know, secondary exits, safe places for workers
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: to go they are confronted with a dangerous situation and
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: physical barriers around the till and how the stores are
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: laid out. Just to make sure that you know, when
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: a particularly violent incidents occurs that a worker can you know,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: can still work in a way where their safety isn't
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: too badly harmed. I think, well, like I said, I
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: think that's why we need to look at every patht
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: of the work they do to see if what we're
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: doing currently currently is making their lives unsafe.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Well, schlock Shama, I always appreciate your time. Thank you
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: very much for having a chat with us this morning,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: and no doubt we'll talk again soon.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Thanks Dabie, thank you,