Hospo Voice members and supporters who have been organising to combat wage theft were happy to hear on February 28 that the Fair Work Ombudsman had decided to investigate Le Bon Ton to ensure it is complying with Fair Work regulations.
On February, the union marched against the New Orleans-inspired Collingwood bar Le Bon Ton to protest its theft of some $20,000 in wages.
The protest was the latest in a string of headline-grabbing actions organised by the young hospitality union 鈥 a project of United Voice 鈥 which is working to combat the epidemic of wage theft and employer abuse in the hospitality sector.
Le Bon Ton, operating out of the historic Glasshouse Hotel, is owned by The Balleau Group and headed by Will and Mick Balleau.
Hospo Voice analysed the payslips and rosters of four workers at Le Bon Ton and other venues controlled by the Balleau brothers and found some workers were paid as little as $18.50 an hour.
The bosses鈥 exploitative tactics would be familiar to many hospitality workers: kitchen staff are paid in cash and off the books; Le Bon Ton closes at 6am on weekends with workers not knocking off until later 鈥 but no penalty rates are paid; and, over years, free knock-off beers take the place of thousands of dollars of unpaid wages.
Hospo Voice wants the Fair Work Ombudsman to prosecute the Balleau Group鈥檚 owners and is seeking the maximum penalties of fines, in excess of $1 million each.
Hospo Voice member Jess Perry, who worked at the Balleau brothers鈥 now closed venue Longhorn Saloon in 2016鈥17, was underpaid by more than $4000 鈥 a debt confirmed by the group鈥檚 accountant. She was never paid.
Perry said: 鈥淭he owners of Le Bon Ton always had a facade of being really kind and caring; the fact that we got a free beer at the end of the night seemed to make up for the fact that we weren't getting paid enough money for the hours we worked.
鈥淏ut, at the end of the day, I would rather money in my bank and my rent paid than a free beer.鈥
A petition launched by Perry demanding justice for Le Bon Ton workers garnered more than 2000 signatures in less than two days.
In an industry where wage theft is rife, Hospo Voice members are turning the tables and fighting back.
United Voice Victoria secretary Jess Walsh said that every worker they had spoken to at Le Bon Ton 鈥渉as been ripped off 鈥 in some cases, by many thousands of dollars鈥.
鈥淭he owners have even admitted to underpaying staff, then [they] brazenly failed to pay up.
鈥淭he great Aussie pub used to be a proud symbol of Australia鈥檚 egalitarian ethos: people from different classes could drink at the same bar and you knew the staff serving you got a fair and decent wage.
鈥淲hat better example of how our work place rules are broken than to see so many pubs caught ripping off their staff,鈥 Walsh said.