Jurgens in hot water again
Union accuses Jurgens Australia of withholding caravan factory workers' entitlementsThe Victorian branch of the Australian Workers' Union is accusing Jurgens Caravans of withholding government JobKeeper payments as well as superannuation entitlements from factory employees after it temporarily shut down its Pakenham, Victoria caravan factory and stood down workers in March.
In a statement on social media earlier this week, the AWU Victoria said that Jurgens Australia "have not only withheld wages from their workforce, they have also stopped paying super for the last 13 months. Currently a workforce of 41 who were stood down in late March, have not been given any JobKeeper payments despite the company saying they had applied for it".
Designed to run for up to six months, the JobKeeper scheme helps eligible employers to continue to pay their workers by receiving a $1500 (minus tax) fortnightly payment that's then passed on to employees. The payments are backdated to late March and were rolled out from early May, and stood down workers are not required to do any work in order to receive the payments.
A number of Australian RV manufacturers have relied on the JobKeeper payments to stay afloat as well as hold on to their workforce during the pandemic, with Cub Campers putting its entire 50-strong workforce on JobKeeper payments after production was cut by two thirds at its Sydney factory
In an online video posted earlier this week, Jurgens factory worker 'Ryan' said employees had "received two emails that we will receive JobKeeper, but we still haven't received that... we should be receiving that this week but we had to really push (Jurgens' management) to get that sort of answer from them".
AWU organiser Fez Riches said that on March 28 Jurgens' employees were told they would be stood down without pay, and were told "the company can't afford to run, so they shut down, locked the doors and told everyone to go jump on JobKeeper".
Riches accused Jurgens' management of not discussing other options with employees like reduced hours or accessing annual leave and other leave entitlements "They were told just to pack up and go talk to Centrelink," he said.
The worker-related allegations are the latest problems facing the South African-owned builder of lightweight Australian caravans, with various dramas including a factory lock-out and legal wind-up orders besetting the once thriving Victorian manufacturer over the past year or so.
Jurgens did not respond to a request from caravancampingsales for comment or more information about the union allegations.
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