Domino’s abandons pay deal

Domino’s will leave workers on the basic award safety net despite workers recently voting up a new pay deal.

The SDA said it was “extremely disappointed” by the decision. Picture: Bloomberg

Domino’s has abandoned plans to have employees covered by a new enterprise agreement and will leave workers on the basic award safety net despite workers recently voting up a new pay deal.

The shop assistants union said it was “extremely disappointed” by the decision which means workers will lose promised additional benefits, including extra leave provisions and higher guaranteed hours.

The Fair Work Commission had been due to consider approval of the new pay deal after it was endorsed by staff in January.

The commission last year terminated substandard pay deals between Domino’s and the union that left employees without weekend penalty rates and pay below the award safety net.

In a statement today, Domino’s Australia/New Zealand CEO Nick Knight said the company had decided that workers would stay on the award rather than continue to seek approval of a new agreement.

“We were prepared to pursue a new EBA because it provided additional benefits for employees, which was supported by our team members in a ballot earlier this year,” Mr Knight said.

“We are still strongly committed to achieving more benefits and security for our employees but believe this can be achieved more efficiently through input into the current four-yearly review of the modern award being conducted by the Fair Work Commission.’

He said paying workers under the award, including weekend and public holiday penalty rates, would still mean that employees “receive wages that are among the highest in the industry”.

But the union’s national secretary Gerard Dwyer, said he was extremely disappointed by the company’s decision.

He said Domino’s moved on to the fast food industry award in January as an interim measure prior to the new agreement being approved by the commission.

“The EBA proposal was rolled out to employees earlier this year and endorsed by 89 per cent of voting employees. It was then filed with the commission for registration,’’ he said.

“The withdrawal of the application means that additional benefits, including leave provisions and access to higher guaranteed hours will not be available in the short term.”