Australian Butchers Store Mernda staff find out job losses on Facebook

Owners of a Mernda butcher store have been forced to apologise after staff only found out on social media they had lost their jobs when it closed down suddenly.

Australian Butchers Store has issued a public apology after staff at its Mernda store found out they had lost their jobs by reading about it on social media on Wednesday.

The apology on its Facebook page said “ … management put in place systems and procedures to ensure all staff were notified of the sudden store closure, unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances not all staff were notified …”

Former employees alleged all staff at the store were employed on casual contracts.

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The apology on Thursday followed a post by the store the previous day announcing its “Mernda pop up store” was closed.

The post received more than 50 comments, many from former staff and customers who claimed they had never been told the store, which opened in the former Provincial Meats building in September, was not permanent.

The message which appeared on the Australian Butchers Store Facebook page on January 2 advising some staff and customers the store had closed.

A former staff member, who did not want to be named, said she was “upset” the store had not told her she had lost her job. “I looked at my phone and there were screenshots saying the store was a pop up and it had closed,” she said.

The apology on the store’s Facebook page also said the Mernda site was acquired on a short lease.

The lease was due to expire in February, however the store had been forced to close early due to a flood and mounting maintenance costs, the apology said.

Australian Butchers Store declined to comment.

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