DPA and the SDA can both go fuck themselves

I was planning on blogging tonight....then I decided I couldn't be bothered...but now i figure, what the hey. It's time for a gripe (as if you couldn't tell by the name of this post).

Where do I start......

I hate my job.


Nope, not a place to start....that's stating a fact - that's introduction, argument and conclusion rolled into one......Need a better opening line.

Ah screw it, I'll just flow from there, I can work it.

Anyway, lately I've been really, really hating my work. I mean, not just in the fashion of everybody who works - I despise my job.
Why do I hate it so much, lately?

Severall reasons....

1) The pay. I worked for.....I think 7 hours last week, over 3 shifts, and I got paid around $100. That's right. You see, this is where the bit about the SDA comes in. As it happens, I'm not covered by an award. Industrial Relations don't even want to know I exist - I once rang them asking how they can justify permitting our pathetic working conditions, and (not surprisingly) they couldn't care less. Pretty much what I expected, but I just wanted to see what they'd say. As I was saying, we're not covered by an award. So all that basic stuff that applies to pretty much everybody else? Nup, nothing to do with me. Hence the 2 hour shifts. I can't remember what else at the moment though....

But the big thing is the pay. Now, if I worked in a normal store, I'd be earning around $15 -$16 an hour, roughly.

What's my hourly rate? $9.79. That's right, I get paid $9.79 an hour. And it doesn't go up with age - oh no, it goes up after 3 months, 12 months, and 24 months. But the highest is still something like $11 an hour.

Oh sure, we get delivery allowances.....Ok, our deliveries are in zones, based on distance. Zone A is up to a 7km radius from the store - straight line distance. Zone B is something like a 10km radius (we don't do Zone C). Zone A deliveries, we get $1.24 per. Zone B, $1.54 per.

Think about it.....petrol is averaging $1.18.9 per litre at the moment. We get 6c taken off each delivery for insurance (yes, we have to pay for our own insurance on the road.....). So that means if I use exactly 1L of fuel I'm 0.9c out of pocket.

What's the fuel efficiency of my car? Around 10-11km per litre. Keep in mind that because I'm driving short distances, and stopping every few kilometres or so and turning the car off it goes through more petrol (don't forget, starting the car uses more fuel than idling). let's say, 10km a litre, that'll do nicely. Now, as I said, Zone A deliveries are up to a 7km radius - straight line. That means up to 14km round trip - straight line distance. Keep in mind that I'm driving a car, not flying a plane, so straight line distances don't mean jack to me. So, worst case scenario, we could allow for, say an extra 2km each way. Up to 18km round trip for a Zone A delivery. And I get $1.18 (after insurance has been taken out). So, for the deliveries to the far areas of Zone A I can actually lose money. And I haven't even take into account the wear and tear, as well as the average costs of green slip, registration, comprehensive insurance and services per kilometre. So, it's quite possible to make a loss on a delivery.

Fortunately, most deliveries aren't that far, (I'll have to see where our furthest Zone A is, actually, I'll get back to you on that), and often we do take double deliveries, or occasionally triples (we get paid the allowance for each one), which is good. But even so, most of the allowance goes straight back into my car as petrol - not even taking into account other expenses. So we're getting totally screwed over. And, not surprisingly, the delivery allowances haven't been raised for years. When petrol was 75c a litre, it wasn't so bad.

But yeah...also, keep in mind that some drivers will have more fuel efficient cars, but other will have much less.......Completely fucked.

Oh yeah, another thing. We don't get extra pay on Saturday nights or Sundays. And public holidays? We get a measly double delivery rate. Considering they usually come on a Monday (our least busy day) this means fuck all.

And that's why I hate DPA (Dominos Pizza Australia) and the SDA. DPA for exploiting us, and SDA for permitting that exploitation in the agreement, which governs our pay and working conditions. I thought the union was supposed to protect us, not encourage us to be exploited? There must've been some under the table deals or something happening, because this is a fucking joke, I'm so sick of being fucking exploited. I don't even get to work on time anymore, if I'm 5min late then it's early. All the managers know this and none of them have said anything, I'll tell them to get fucked if they try give me a written warning for it. The way I see it, I don't get paid to do 2 hours work, not with those pay rates, so why the hell should I actually turn up for 2 hours?

And do you have any idea how much it sucks when you're out all day, and you've gotta come back home so you can earn a measly $25?????

And yes, before you say anything, I AM looking for another job. At the moment Centrelink are screwing me over, I'm slipping between the cracks in the system due to my uni/TAFE situation, so that's taking ages to sort out (I'll be happy when it is though - I'm up to 4 months backpay owing - long story). I've got reffing, but that's $100-$150 a weekend. Allow $20 -$30a weekend from that to go straight to food and drinks at the games. And after all my expenses, I really don't have much to play with. If I had a real job I could earn a week's pay in domino's in one shift. Actually, I could earn considerably MORE in one shift.....But yeah, I've made some applications, had no contact though...I'm gonna have to go drop off a stack of resumes at Erina this week.....hopefully get some xmas work.......it's bloody hard finding a job on the coast, and the reason I haven't been looking too much is with all the commitments of TAFE, and soccer....

Oh, somebody PLEASE give me a job!! I've realised lately it isn't just the pay that's depressing, it's the fact that I have zero responsibility in the job. I answer phones to a script, I deliver pizzas. There is absolutely no personal satisfaction out of it, and that's something I NEED in a job. Personal development, personal fulfilment - all of this is impossible in my current job. There is simply no avenue for it. No challenge, nothing. At least at Network Video I ran shifts so I had some responsibility there, and had to do a bit of visual merchandising (again, some responsibility, and a slight challenge, not much though) - and just had the responsibility of being in chargefor those few hours. Even at majestic, we were all the same 'rank', but I still had some responsibility, and had personal growth and fulfilment in those jobs. Nothing at Domino's, and that's a BIG reason why I hate it so much.

As well as everything else I mentioned.






And that's why DPA and the SDA can both go fuck themselves