Meet Mark: an imbalance of power

Imagine getting laid-off over Christmas, abandoned by your employer, left with nothing while the bills stack up.

It’s a nightmare scenario, but for Mark Rossetto and 300 of his colleagues, it was all too real.  

“I’ve lived every minute of it and I can tell you that it’s a roller coaster. They were made redundant right on Christmas/New Year, without any funds.

“People had mortgages to pay, school fees to pay. All these things were put on hold.”

A pre-press operator in the print trade, Mark had given 27 years of loyal service to his employer. In the end, it counted for nothing.

“I’m very proud to say that I was part of that company for 27 years. So, to go through the bargaining, what we’ve currently gone through and to end up where I am now, I’m totally devastated, not only for myself but for 300 fellow workers around the nation.

“People have no money, people’s mental health is suffering, obviously their families are suffering through this whole process.”

To add insult to injury, while Mark and his workmates waited on desperately needed Government assistance, the business owners, the 17th richest family in Australia, received a bail out.

For Mark, the injustice of this shows the balance of power has tipped too far towards big business.

“There are laws to help companies get out of this, but where are the laws to keep employees in business and support employees?

“I want less support for the employer and more support for the employees, which we didn’t get.”

Now, as the Government tries to push through more laws to hurt workers, Mark has a message for the PM.

“If I could talk to Scott Morrison, I’d definitely say you’ve enabled these changes of these laws to support employers, but where is the fairness and the equity for us as employees?

“Stop changing the balance to the employer and start looking at the majority of everyday Australians, which are your workers.”