PM - Why do you shoot from the hip before checking the facts?
SPC Ardmona has hit back at claims by the Prime Minister that its business troubles are due to "extraordinary" workplace conditions, saying the statements are "mistaken and need to be refuted by the facts".
Worker allowances at SPC Ardmona
Claim: SPC Ardmona employees get "over-generous" allowances. Fact: The total allowances paid to SPC production staff in 2013 was $116,467, less than 0.1 per cent of the business's cost of goods for the year.
Claim: There is a generous "wet" allowance of 58 cents per hour for cleaners Fact: Zero ($0.00) paid in 2013.
Claim: SPC Ardmona employees get nine weeks paid leave a year. Fact: SPCA employees get 20 days annual leave.
Claim: A five-day Melbourne Cup long weekend. Fact: Production staff accrue rostered days off (RDOs) during the year which SPCA requires them not to take during the peak season. Instead these RDOs are taken at the start of November, the optimum time for a plant shutdown to allow maintenance in preparation for the canning season from December to April. RDOs are not additional leave.
Claim: Sick leave is cashed out each year. Fact: This was removed from the EBA in 2012.
Claim: Loading, or shift penalties are above the award. Fact: SPC Ardmona penalties are the same as industry standards and common to many Australian EBAs. Afternoon shift is at 20 per cent and night shift at 30 per cent.
Claim: Loadings on top of overtime. Fact: Production workers do almost zero overtime.
Claim: Redundancy is in excess of the award. Fact: This old condition was reduced in 2012 to a 52-week cap.
- Source: SPC Ardmona's managing director Peter Kelly.
