Teenager targets Subway over ‘zombie’ workplace agreement

The meat'is in the sandwich, but Chantelle Zentveld says workers only get crumbs.   

New Daily.
Feb 13 2022

An Australian teenager has taken fast food franchise Subway to the nation’s industrial relations watchdog to terminate an agreement the union says “rips off” thousands of young workers.

Chantelle Zentveld, who recently turned 17, has lodged an application in the Fair Work Commission to terminate an Enterprise Agreement under which a cluster of 60 Subway employers operate.

The agreement was approved in 2011 and its nominal expiry date was in 2015, making it what is dubbed a “zombie agreement” — a workplace instrument that is past its nominal expiry date but has never been ended or replaced by another one.

Ms Zentveld said because wages and conditions have remained as per the agreement without improving with modern awards, she and others receive no penalty rates, which they would if they were on the Fast Food Award.

“When I started working at Subway, I was told they pay above the fast food award,” she said.

“I can’t even say that this was misleading; it is just blatantly untrue.”

Missing five per cent
All enterprise agreements are approved by the Fair Work Commission and can lawfully operate until the employee or employer applies to end them.

Ms Zentveld said they also only receive 20 per cent casual loading instead of 25 per cent.

“On Boxing Day I worked alongside someone who said they were doing an eight-hour shift and were doing it because it was double pay,” she said.

“It wasn’t even normal pay.” 

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association national secretary Gerard Dwyer said current industrial laws intimidated young, non-unionised workers into accepting “sub-standard wages”.

“There are dozens of these zombie agreements, many of them dating from John Howard’s Workchoices era, which are leading to thousands of teenage workers being ripped off,” Mr Dwyer said.

“This shocking case highlights a broken workplace bargaining system trapping thousands of teenagers on these zombie agreements.”   

-AAP

Just so people understand exactly what these zombie agreements really are.

They are workchoices agreements that have never been terminated.

They display one of the most significant flaws in the dreadful fair work legislation. These agreements should have never been allowed to exist past 2010.

Oh,,, and as for paying employees 'penalty rates'?
Well thanks to the Unions, its the Customers who pay the Penalty Rates to these workers via 'Surcharges' now.

Dnarever wrote on Feb 14^th, 2022 at 12:17pm:

As Shackleton said to the few Union Sailors on his frozen-in ship having a pay whinge

." STFU and get to work!"

Dnarever wrote on Feb 14^th, 2022 at 12:17pm:



Don't bother trying sense to JaSin today - he's in his 'down' phase ... or is that Downs Phase? Sort of wandering in space making allusions to Union workers trying to 'scab' roots - he's never worked out that without those Unions whatever he's earned would have no 'floor' underneath it and he would just have to take what the boss offered while JaSe happily whistled away at 2c an hour in the ladies toilets etc..

As for Scabs getting all the roots  - well - that depends on your workplace, doesn't it - working in a nursing home filled with dopey sheilas doesn't really count - and let's be honest, shows pretty much what predators and users scabs are in reality .... and deluded.

Can I have a pound of what you're smoking, JaSin?  Must be worth a fortune... 

Jasin wrote on Feb 14^th, 2022 at 11:38am:


It is the customers that pay all the wages and all the profits for the business. That is just how it works?

Surcharges are just a recent rort for the business.

whiteknight wrote on Feb 14^th, 2022 at 2:36pm:

You are absolutely right WhiteKnight.
But people have the right NOT to be in a union and the right not to be bullied, harrassed, called scabs, etc if they are not.

Jasin wrote on Feb 14^th, 2022 at 10:14pm:


Not being in a union does not make anyone a scab.

There has always been an anomaly where all the non union members get all the benefits of being in a union while contributing nothing and often undermine the other workers.

They take all the benefits with none of the risk. A lot of people struggle to accept people people in the workforce that cannot be trusted, they simply do not have your back unless you consider the knife to be a benefit.