Subway Australia Enterprise Agreement
Felicity Sowerbutts, director of the Young Workers Centre union in Melbourne, said subway franchises were infamous for working under outdated agreements. “All company agreements are approved by the Fair Work Commission and can be legally enforced until a party requests termination of the agreement. If a job has a registered agreement, the bonus does not apply. However, she instead called her 2017 deal “part-time” despite her irregular schedules, allowing the company to pay her less. This Agreement shall apply to the franchisees listed in Annex 1 to the Agreement. She added that many workers with zombie arrangements lack penalty interest and a number of claims like overtime settlements or uniform allowances. Fast food chain Subway is the youngest retailer targeted by a union for so-called zombie corporate deals. Former Subway employee Renee McCarthy worked at the franchise for more than three years, saying she was underpaid by $US 1300 after being paid by a “pirate deal” that had expired but was never updated. Registered agreements are valid until terminated or issued.
They are called “zombies” because they do not die, unless the workers renegotiate and it is estimated that they currently involve thousands of Australian employees. Breakfast also asked for a response from Attorney General Christian Porter: the government is concerned about the reduction in the number of new and renewed company agreements and will invite contributions in response to a discussion paper on the subject in 2020. Company agreements are agreements concluded at company level which lay down the minimum working conditions applicable to a group of workers and to an employer. Company agreements are based on the minimum conditions of the Modern Awards and/or vary. Modern awards are a safety net of minimum conditions for an entire industry or job, for example the General Retail Industry Award 2010 applies to retail. If a job has a company agreement, the modern price does not apply. Company agreements and bonuses apply in conjunction with National Employment Standards (“NES”).