Casual workers ‘shocked and hurt’ after receiving termination letter from Gold Coast City Council

Gold Coast City Council have sent a letter to casual staff who’ve previously worked at sports and leisure centres advising they’ve been “terminated”

CASUAL staff say they feel “shocked, hurt and abandoned” after being axed by the Gold Coast City Council via letter.

It’s believed up to 200 who had worked at council-run leisure and indoor centres and stadiums in Runaway Bay, Carrara and Coomera were sent this week’s termination letter.

They were told “it’s a standard protocol at the City that where a casual employee hasn’t been engaged for a shift for a period of three months, their employment is terminated”.

“This will mean that as of 24 June 2020, unless you are engaged in a casual shift, your employment will cease as of that date.”

One worker said the three-month clause should not apply because the only reason they weren’t offered shifts was because of COVID-19 shutdowns.

A letter sent to casual workers of Gold Coast City Council who work at event centres across the city - saying they have been terminated, can reapply to be a casual like everyone

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“It’s been impossible to get a shift since council-run stadiums weren’t allowed to open, I just feel shocked and hurt, especially by the wording of the letter.”

The mother of another worker said her daughter “felt abandoned” and some casuals had worked for years at various council venues.

“Loyalty and hard work meant nothing. She was always on time and reliable and I know went above and beyond, especially when it was chaotic,” she said.

The letter explained when council was able to “re-engage casual employees” this would be advertised using an “open merit based recruitment process” and workers would be notified and invited to apply.

At the Runaway Bay Indoor Sports Stadium pre-COVID-19 are members of the East Coast Derby Dolls J'Aime Bache aka Medusa Damage (front), Nikki Kay aka Bravetart, Lucy Fouche aka Lucious and Laura Hoad aka Crank. Picture by Scott Fletcher

“Adding insult to injury, casuals like my daughter must now reapply, along with thousands of other out-of-work Gold Coasters,” the mother said.

“Financially and emotionally, she really thought she had a job to come back to. Some people have worked as a casual for council for five years and now that basically means nothing.”

Queensland Branch Secretary of The Australian Workers’ Union Queensland Branch Secretary Steve Baker slammed the council’s position.

“This is just the latest attempt by Gold Coast City Council to use the pandemic as an excuse to go after their own workers and it’s nothing short of disgraceful,” he said.

“Many of these workers are long-term council employees and deserve better than getting a letter in the middle of a pandemic telling them they’re set to lose their jobs.

“The AWU is working closely with affected members, and we’ll be making it clear to council that this just isn’t good enough.”

Steve Baker, Queensland Branch Secretary of The Australian Workers’ Union. Picture Mike Batterham

A council spokesperson said: “The City is working hard to manage constantly changing service delivery requirements during the COVID event”.

“We have commenced standing up our permanent employees and will be focusing on re-engaging casual employees when our service levels warrant their employment.

“As it will be many months before services are able to return to normal, we are unable to commit to maintaining our pre-COVID levels of casual employment.

“All potentially impacted employees have been notified of this to give them every opportunity to consider their options and make informed decisions. They are also encouraged to apply for further casual work when it is advertised at some point in the future.”