Hi all.
I worked at a leisure establishment at the beginning of this year. It was an old place, open since the 60/70’s and it was a great place to be. They recently tore down the building as they were refurbishing a new centre that cost $27m+.
Problems have occurred since the transition.
One, there is about 10 car parking spaces for workers even though there’s about 60+ working there. We’ve been told we can’t access it sometimes as they have stage setups loading in and told us to use other areas. Areas that have no street lights or you have to pay and display a ticket (that won’t be refunded).
The staff room is like a shoe closet, has a mini fridge that is always full and nothing else. 4 chairs and a small table. Meanwhile the bosses have their own fridge and microwave in their office. There is also a full catering area behind the auditorium stage for the people who come and use the performance centre if they want it. (3 fridge freezers, washing and drying machines.)
There are no staff lockers so we have to use the customer ones and no staff changing facilities or toilets. We have to use all of the customer ones. We cannot sit in the cafeteria area in our work uniform either.
We are expected to wear trainers and by the poolside they can easily get soaked through and have no way of drying them. Swim teachers are expected to teach for up to 6 hours in soaking wet shoes which will cause all kind of bacterial issues as they can’t do so barefoot.
Issues are brought up to the bosses as it’s only been running for 2 weeks so far but nothing is being done. What is the best course of action for someone like me to help resolve these issues?
I have thought about going to a local newspaper and reveal the awful conditions we are in as I don’t think the bosses care about our complaints but would hate bad publicity. We don’t have a union and I wouldn’t know where to start going about making one?
Any comments are much appreciated thank you.