Eastland staff start petition to remove controversial parking fees
PRESSURE is mounting to force Eastland to scrap its controversial parking fees, after staff started two petitions demanding the “unjust” charges be reconsidered.
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PRESSURE is mounting to force Eastland’s hand in scrapping its controversial parking fees for staff.
Employees have started two petitions demanding the “unjust” $4-a-day fee be reconsidered, with many believing it is unfair to charge anything when retail workers are so poorly paid.
Lead campaigner Jenna Rank started her petition before renovations were completed, saying she had more than 50 pages of signatures to hand to management.
There are about 5000 staff members at Eastland since the redevelopment was completed in May this year.
Ms Rank, who has worked at Eastland on and off for more than three years, said she refused to pay for parking and parked off site instead of using the designated staff area.
She said she had aired her concerns with management, but nothing had been finalised.
“It’s well over $1000 a year for us who work fulltime and it’s not tax deductible,” Ms Rank said.
“Retail workers are already some of the lowest paid and most of us get $36,000 and some of the kids who work at Kmart are on $16,000, so it’s not fair.”
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It’s believed staff at some stores, including Coles and Woolworths, are not required to pay for parking due to exemptions in their contract.
Staff members have also been threatened with fines for parking in customer spots while at the centre privately shopping.
STA Travel manager Laura Jane Lucas said most retail staff were young or trying to support families, so it wasn’t fair to sting them “just for doing their job”.
“They say we’re paying for a better service, but my car got hit (a few weeks ago) and centre management still hasn’t helped me access security vision,” Ms Lucas said.
Centre manager Greg Balmforth said Eastland had not received a petition on parking.
He said the $4 fee was comparable with parking options in surrounding areas and other shopping centres in Melbourne.
He refused to comment on whether some staff members were exempt from the fee.
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