As if the optics weren’t bad enough in the whole George Calombaris shamozzle, an understandably disgruntled employee has now spoken out about how they say it all went down.
A coupla days ago when it was announced that The Made Establishment, spearheaded by the former Masterchef judge, was headed for a collapse, Calombaris took to Insta to share the following post:
But apparently his hundreds of staff members were not made aware that they were now jobless, only finding out via the above Insta post.
An anonymous staff member has issued a statement through Hospo Voice, a Victoria-based hospitality union, explaining that they’re “angry” no one informed them of the company’s collapse.
“We had to learn the company was going into administration via George’s post on Instagram,” said the staff member.
“I feel very angry about what’s happened. We haven’t been told anything.”
The staffer also claimed that although wages and superannuation entitlements had been paid up to Sunday, annual leave was still outstanding.
“I may have to go home if I can’t keep this job,” said the anonymous employee, who is in Australia on a temporary visa.
ACTU president Michele O’Neil accused Calombaris of “shameless” behaviour, claiming Calombaris “stole $8 million from the people who do the hard work in his restaurants”, she said on Facebook.
She went on to call the television personality “the poster boy for the employers that were campaigning to cut penalty rates to workers.”
“So now more than 400 jobs on the line, at risk because George wasn’t prepared to run a fair legal business where he paid workers what they were entitled to,” she said.
“But do you think anything has happened to George? Is he being disqualified, is he being de-registered? No, we don’t have a law for that.”
Administrators Craig Shepard and Leanne Chesser reportedly hope to find buyers for the businesses ASAP so at least some of the staff can keep their jobs under new operators.
