Woolies cleaners allegedly underpaid $21k

THE workplace watchdog has switched its attention from Woolies’ trolley collectors to its cleaners, with contractors in the firing line.

The FWO is taking aim at Woolworths’ supply chain. Picture: Richard Walker

THE workplace watchdog has switched its attention from Woolworths’ trolley collectors to its cleaners, taking legal action against former contractors for allegedly underpaying four workers more than $21,000.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced Federal Court legal proceedings against subcontractor OzKorea and owner Sung Gun Hwang for short-changing the workers at four Woolies supermarkets in Tasmania between January 2014 and January 2015.

It is also taking action against national cleaning firm Pioneer Facility Services and one of its subsidiaries, saying they should have known they weren’t paying OzKorea enough for it to pay minimum wage.

OzKorea faces maximum penalties of up to $54,000 for some contraventions and $27,000 for others and Mr Hwang faces maximum penalties of between $5400 and $10,800.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said last month that she would use “all the levers available to us to protect vulnerable workers at the bottom of supply chains”.

“Outsourcing is a legitimate business arrangement — but in my experience, in highly competitive markets for low-skilled work, it also increases the risk that workers will be underpaid, sometimes quite deliberately,” Ms James said.

A Woolworths spokesman said in a statement that it “takes any alleged noncompliance with workplace laws by its contractors or subcontractors seriously”.

“Woolworths has worked with the FWO over many years to seek to eliminate exploitation of workers employed by contractors and subcontractors,” the spokesman said.

“We have invested significant resources in implementing processes to identify and address any workplace noncompliances by contractors in Woolworths’ supply chain.”

The statement said that OzKorea “no longer provides any cleaning services at Woolworths supermarkets” after Pioneer lost its contracts at Deloraine, Georgetown, Riverside and Mowbray “as a result of Woolworths re-tendering its cleaning services towards the end of last year”.