Every day we get bombarded with insurance advertisements; funeral insurance, health insurance, life insurance, car insurance, house and contents insurance; so many options and yet so many choices.

Hey, but wait a minute. We haven’t covered your most important form of insurance. That’s right. What about your job insurance? When you really think about it, your job insurance is the most important because your employment provides you with the ability and the means to pay your bills. Your best form of job insurance is joining and maintaining your SDA membership!

Meet Darren

Darren used to work for a very large retailer some 20 years ago. Within his first week of employment, he met his in-store SDA Shop Steward who encouraged him to join the SDA which he did. From time to time, Darren asked his Shop Steward for advice and guidance and was always appreciative of the SDA support he received. Darren enjoyed his job but after eight years, he decided he wanted a change of pace and changed industries.

After five years, he decided to return to retail and commenced work for a small retailer and within four years, Darren was promoted to store manager.

When Darren re-entered the retail workforce, he re-joined the SDA and paid his membership fees via direct debit.

Earlier this year, Darren contacted the union office and asked one of our Industrial Officers to determine whether he had been getting paid correctly or not. Although Darren was on a salary and had a contract, he was still guaranteed by law to be paid no less than the General Retail Industry Award. Our Industrial Officer discovered that Darren was being paid the wrong classification level for the last four years and had been underpaid just shy of $20,000.

As per the grievance procedure, our Industrial Officer spoke to the senior management of the company and Darren was subsequently backpaid all the money he was owed.

Darren still works for the company and he is now being paid correctly.

I agree with Darren when he says “your best form of job insurance is joining and maintaining your SDA membership”!