Foster`s hid sackings amid fires: staff

Brewing giant Foster's deliberately made 115 employees including three volunteer
firefighters redundant in the aftermath of the Victorian bushfires to minimise
publicity, workers say.
Maintenance and trade staff working at the Abbotsford plant in inner Melbourne,
including Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers Shane Cramer, Dave Dixon and
another unnamed worker, were notified of their redundancies on Thursday.
Foster's publicly apologised for the timing of the announcement on Friday,
describing it as "a very unfortunate accident".
Maintenance fitter Wolfgang Smoger has worked at the Abbotsford plant for 34 years
and said the company hid the redundancies behind high media coverage of the
devastating bushfires.
"This was done deliberately because they knew we would not be front page," Mr Smoger
told AAP.
"They have taken advantage of the timing."
But he said stoppages were "a last resort".
"We are not a bunch that walks out," he said.
Electrician Pat Tutton said the family atmosphere of the company was becoming eroded.
Workers donated their beer vouchers to bushfire victims after learning of their
redundancies, he said.
"We've also been pulling a lot of extra shifts to cover for the guys that are out
fighting the fires and I think we've got reason to be proud of ourselves for that."
Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) organiser Chris Spindler said staff
may be re-employed by labour hire company ABB but under contracts that stripped them
of hard-fought conditions.
"The company has given us no consultation, in terms of reasons why, timing ... there
is nothing that can be said that would actually give Foster's an excuse for doing
this.
"Foster's is an incredibly profitable company, $713 million they made last year -
there is no rational reason for kicking out a workforce that has helped to make that
sort of profit."
"This is no time to make this sort of decision."
The union has launched a campaign to retain the workers' jobs at the plant.