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Aussies! You can do THIS! Please help - you can do it confidentially

DavidM

Patron with Honors
Hi everyone,

I have been in contact with the Workplace Ombudsman.
I would like to ask a favor from any ex-scientologist who has specific information about working conditions, wages, and abuse within the Church of Scientology's Australian Orgs. If you are willing, please complete a wages and conditions claim form so that the Workplace Ombudsman can investigate. You can make the claim confidential.

You can lodge a claim with the Workplace Ombudsman in four ways:

1. using the online claim form from the website at www.wo.gov.au

2. in person at one of the 26 offices across Australia
Link to office locations http://www.wo.gov.au/asp/index.asp?sid=7407&page=contact-view&cid=5352&id=714

3. by contacting the Workplace Infoline on 1300 363 264 and asking for a claim kit to be mailed to you

4. by downloading a copy of the claim form http://www.wo.gov.au/data/portal/00007407/content/51059001183070561539.pdf and posting to the Workplace Ombudsman, GPO Box 9887, In your capital city

You can also contact the Workplace Ombudsman on 1300 724 200.

If you could do this, it might help bring some small measure of justice for the countless people who have suffered in the past and are suffering now on staff and in the SeaOrg. When the Church of Scientology acts as an employer it is required to follow the same regulations as any other employer. The Church of Scientology seems to have a culture of negligence towards employees.

Similarly, if you know of any Occupational Health and Safety issues affecting staff or Sea Org members (including those in the RPF) please use the relevant state contacts available here:
http://www.ascc.gov.au/ascc/AboutUs/StateContacts/

Kind Regards,

David
 

DavidM

Patron with Honors
No problem at all.
Yes, I think they are interested in recent info. Hopefully they will soon have enough to investigate and fix things.
 

SabinaM

Patron
My information is four or five years old, now, so I don't know how useful it would be. I should have stayed in longer! :wink2:

I'll keep it all in mind just in case, though. Welcome to the forum, David.
 

DavidM

Patron with Honors
My information is four or five years old, now, so I don't know how useful it would be. I should have stayed in longer! :wink2:

I'll keep it all in mind just in case, though. Welcome to the forum, David.

Thanks for the welcomes!

SabinaM, I actually think info from 4-5 years ago would be very relevant. If you have specifics about pay and conditions, it might give them enough reason to at least check that its not still happening. And if it is, they will do something about it.

So I'd encourage you to get in contact with the Ombudsman. They said you can do it confidentially, so it should be safe, you should specifically request that they keep any identifying information confidential, explain that the CoS has a reputation for hitting back at people. If you want you could photocopy documents with the identifying info covered. Perhaps you can tell them you are not seeking an investigation of your specific case, but that you are concerned about current employees, based on your previous experiences.

If you prefer you could just talk about it with the Ombudsman on the phone, tell them you do not want your name released and explain things.

I think they will be very interested about the details of the staff contract, weekly wages, excessive working hours, denial of sick leave, and anything else you can remember that violated your rights as an employee.

Did you have to sign a contract like the one linked to from this article?: http://www.slate.com/id/2190284/entry/0/

If you want to stay completely anonymous you can just print out the form and write as much as you are comfortable with releasing (your name might be 'Name Withheld') and send it in the mail.

Also, I think if they just hear some of the stories from ex-staff about any injustices that happened, they will be very surprised - it's their job to protect employee rights and this has been going on for years without them knowing.
 
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asagai

Patron Meritorious
Bumping this up for you David.

In the UK the HMRC are very interested in getting infor from people about the poor wages. It sounds like the Aussie Ombudsman is as interested in our experiences.
 

asagai

Patron Meritorious
Thanks for bunping this thread. I hadn't seen it.

I bumped it as well as bunped it! :wink2:

The fantastic thing about the Aussie Ombudsman and the UK HMRC is that we can report the CofS anonymously or confidentially and the legislation is already in place to hit the CofS for violations of the law.

The aussie one is interesting and relevant for the UK NMW campaign (http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=5925), because the first legal argument the CofS will use in the UK is that they are a registered charity in Oz.

Future epic wins! :happydance:

Keep bumping (or bunping!) these two threads so that more and more ex-Scios realise they can help bring about the downfall of the CofS anonymously or confidentially! :thumbsup:
 
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