Workers organising at Kisdoo:

In Oct 2021 a former worker called the YWC about issues they experienced and continued to be an issue at Kisdoo, an art studio/school in Melbourne's Eastern suburbs.

Key issues: unpaid overtime, last minute rostering, no penalty rates and a culture of bullying.

So workers got organised! The 10 current workers, with the support of the former worker, joined the IEU and took action.

Workers wrote a letter of demand to management, with advice provided by YWC legal team and IEU industrial officers and YWC attended a meeting, as a support person role, with management to discuss their demands.

The workers won:
1. Timesheets to track overtime
2. An additional paid hour of preparation time each week
back paid the 1st July 2021
3. Award pay increase for all staff
4. $10,000 in back pay!! This was the unpaid weekend penalty rates for all eligible staff. 
5. Clearer and fairer contracts when they renewed for 2022.

Just as importantly, these workers experienced unionism. 10 young workers joined the union and 1 of them participated in Union Summer and continues to be a YWC activist. Many of them have now left Kisdoo but they've been back in touch to ask which union they should now join in their new roles, they're mainly now working in hospitality and galleries.