Today we found out that McDonald’s is prepared to push our peaceful community to the limit in its ruthless pursuit of a store that no one wants. So as to get around the fact that unions affiliated with the Victorian Trades Hall Council are refusing to allow workers on site due to serious safety concerns, McDonald’s have now contracted a “non-union” demolition company that are prepared to start demolition next week.
It is our opinion that McDonald’s want to demolish the existing buildings prior to being back in the Supreme Court next Thursday. It is a low act that will endanger workers and the community. McDonald’s have snubbed their nose at the community and now it appears they want to snub their nose at safety conscious unions.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Our PR team is in the process of alerting the media who will no doubt be asking hard questions of McDonald’s, the builder Lanskey and the demolition company B.R. Demolitions. What you can do is let Bernie Rafferty and his team at B.R. Demolitions know that they are about to make a very bad move and should respect the community’s wishes.
Contact details for B.R. Demolitions can be found here:
http://www.br-demolition.com.au/contact/
You can leave a message on their website or call any of the listed numbers. You can also e-mail the Director Bernie Rafferty at info@brdemo.com.au
If you are tweeting include the hashtag #badmovebrdemo and of course #tecoma
Remember, be professional and firm in your opinion. Make your story personal and under no circumstances make threats or intimidation, we’ll leave that tactic to professionals like McDonald’s
If there is one thing this community has done well is getting our message out far and wide. Share this message and let B.R.Demolitions know, that like McDonald’s they too are Unwelcome and Unwanted.
This is my email to the demolition company –
“Hi there,
I have come to understand that you are going to demolish buildings in Tecoma in preparation for the proposed McDonald’s. I wanted to let you know that this is quite a contentious project for you to be working on. Perhaps you have not seen nor heard all of the news reports discussing the amount of opposition in the local community to the McDonald’s. We are a town with a population of approx. 3000 people. Very few of us want the McDonald’s built. The local council opposed the building, and McDonald’s took it to VCAT (a week before Christmas) and a contentious decision was made to go ahead with the building – despite 1700+ letters of opposition to the site being submitted. From a town of 3k people, that’s a lot of formally lodged opposition. The CFMEU have decided that the site is not viable to work on as they know they are crossing a picket line. You may be anti-union, but I hope you are business savvy enough to realise that you are stepping into a hot-bed of problems in taking on this project. One of the petitions against the development has reached in excess of 40 000 signatures. The local push against this development is being watched at a global level now, which mean your involvement will be seen at that scale too. Not to mention that McDonald’s, a global corporation are suing locals (as opposed to charging with trespass) for tens of thousands of dollars, and have put a writ to stop them speaking freely about the situation, while they themselves continue to do so. Even the Australian CEO has recognised that this is crossing a line.
I hope you can reconsider this contract as, in the long run, it’s not worth getting in the middle of this fight.
All the best,
Jo”
I have just been told that your company intends to demolish some old original buildings in Tecoma to make way for a fast food giant to build there even though there is a union ban on this site. I presume this means your company is a non union one? Firstly I would like to make it clear that the majority of the community does not want this store to be built and has been actively campaigning against it for two years. These buildings although not heritage listed hold great sentimental value for the community and, when the whole deal fails (as it surely will in the long term even if the store is built) then these buildings will have been lost to the community forever. My second point is that unions are what has made this country great and have provided the conditions that the majority of your workers now benefit from. A scab worker is regarded as the lowest form of life and your company will receive much bad publicity if you go ahead. I ask you to reconsider having anything to do with the McDonalds company that puts profits before community wishes.