Council workers sacked for taking smoko at Surfers Paradise pie shop

TWO council cleaners in Queensland who were fired after ducking out to get a pie on a break are now accusing the council of 'double standards.'

Mr Kamu said the workers were hungry and needed a break.

TWO Gold Coast City Council cleaners have been sacked after eating meat pies while on a smoko in Surfers Paradise.

The council's maintenance services managers have argued that the workers had failed to adhere to break times and should have been in their working area of Main Beach, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.

But the cleaners, in their defence, have argued they have been victimised and "humiliated" after they bought the pies in the tourist hotspot.

The revelations have surfaced a year after a Bulletin special investigation uncovered a secret psychologists report which found a third of city cleaners had been bullied by management and co-workers.

Council documents obtained by The Bulletin show the latest incident occurred at the Pie Face shop in Cavill Mall just before 7am on October 24 last year.

The two workers were dismissed last Wednesday and after a union meeting earlier this week will now fight for their jobs at a future hearing at the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

Council cleaner John Kamu in a response to a "show cause' letter said he was in Main Beach where barriers were being set up for the Gold Coast 600 when his fellow worker sought to drive to Surfers Paradise to obtain some money.

Mr Kamu said the workers were hungry and needed a break.

"This is where the victimisation begins. If we were caught maybe in Upper Coomera, Coolangatta, for example, that is where I would say we were out of area, not Surfers to Main Beach," Mr Kamu wrote.

Council management were guilty of "double standards" because workers at a toolbox meetings had been advised that if they needed to eat or drink or felt fatigued, they should take a break.

"We were hungry, needed a break, and all of a sudden their break policies are gone out of the window," Mr Kamu wrote.

He recalled his co-worker obtaining money from a bank as he bought a pie, then his colleague returning to order his pie as they prepared to drive back to Main Beach.

A ganger approached them, who lead the cleaning crews on the ground, and allegedly argued that their smoko was not until 8am and told them "there is a pie shop in Main Beach".

The ganger had "berated and humiliated us in front of the Pie Face store" and used "inappropriate and offensive language" heard by tourists, Mr Kamu wrote.

"For me, it was totally unprofessional and unacceptable what he did, no employee in any organisation should tolerate verbal abuse and harassment," he added.

Both men later "apologised" to the ganger indicating they were not aware of the time, and he allegedly replied: "It's all right Johnny, don't worry about it".

"Now I have been given a show cause notice for eating a pie too early and out of area," Mr Kamu wrote.

Visiting a pie face constituted "serious misconduct" accord...

"Surfers Paradise is our area … I submit there are more important things going on in City Cleaning and staff abusing other staff in public and not having this addressed is just one of them."

Council emails obtained by the Bulletin also reveal Mr Kamu was later given another "show cause" letter after he and the co-worker distributed a photograph showing them eating pies.

"The photograph was sent confidentially to certain fellow workers … is completely irrelevant and I believe a backlash from management," he wrote in the email.

The second warning was an attempt by management to "cover up" complaints about verbal abuse from a manager, he added.

Council maintenance manager Bob Cunningham, in a letter to Mr Kamu a week ago, advised his job had been terminated after he had "engaged in serious misconduct".

He alleged the pie incident had caused Mr Kamu to be "absent from your duties for a considerable amount of time", that he disobeyed a direction from a leading hand and breached time keeping guidelines.

A spokesman for the Australian Workers' Union confirmed "conciliation processes are pending" before the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission where the union would represent the workers.

Mr Kamu, his co-worker and the council have declined to comment.

Should these men have lost their job? Did they do anything wrong? Tell us in the comments section below.