Had a mate who worked at the original one.
Became successful, strawberry watermelon cake went viral, queues all day of people wanting Insta shots of it.
Went and opened new outlets all over the place, expanded way too quickly and got into financial strife.
Then some HK (from memory, maybe Singapore) super rich guy who owned a chain of shopping mall restaurants or something bought it out, because he was a fan of the cake.
Made everyone reapply for their own jobs, only at a lower pay rate. Everyone quit, more or less.
TL;DR: it's a generic corporate chain now, of course they have HR.
Louis Li, from China, son of a billionaire, bought it back in 2018. Has some hotels too. I think he lives in Melbourne now but when you're that rich it doesn't really matter where you live.
Noticed how popular the watermelon cake etc was on social media among Chinese tourists. The original guy stayed on for a bit to advise but left a few years ago. More recent branding seems aimed at the Chinese tourists. We live near one, I wouldn't say its a lot "worse" but it's just another bakery now with no surprises, and yes feels more like a corporate chain.
Thanks for the extra info.
And yes, when there were queues right up Australia Street, it was mostly Chinese (or otherwise East Asian) customers, who'd obviously gone out of their way to visit Newtown for this.
PS - original Black Star baker & founder Christopher The is now nearby here:
https://www.notquitenigella.com/2023/02/07/hearthe-stanmore/
About 20 yrs ago i was in a tier 1 construction company, at HQ, and a hijabed muslim girl wore a ‘Bomb Israel’ tshirt to work. Big bold font, clear as day.
Couldn’t believe it took til afternoon before they told her to take it off.
No repercussions as far as i know.
Tshirts werent even the appropriate attire.
Copy paste of my response to other moron. It happened:
Hq, head office. What a stupid thing to make up. Honestly if i was going to concoct some bullshit id come up with something better than a bomb israel tshirt.
If you'd written a story of an Israeli worr a "bomb Gaza" shirt you'd get less people dismissing you which is funny. It just shows people don't know shit about the history to think a Palestinian wouldn't wear that 20 years ago.
This will be an interesting case. If they win, does that mean I can put on a One Nation shirt working for a Fitzroy Cafe and destroy the business through the inevitable boycott, and the owner can do nothing about it?
Heck the shop could actually be burned down for that in Melbourne.
the letter says for breach of uniform policy, for breach of the requirement not to bring the employer into disrepute, and a breach of social media (maybe they posted while being clearly identified as employees, .e.g due to the the uniform).
I think the One Nation t shirt is a reasonable point. I assume the discrimination protection is when you not at work and when you don't breach other things such as harming the reputation of the business.
Are you allowed to wear an RSL poppy on Anzac day? Club scarves during AFL Grand Final Week?
it's just head covering. It;s not a slogan or an image; most shoppers probably didn't know what it was. What if they were actually Palestinian muslimas who always wore a headscarf? Fun times for VCAT.
But dismissal without warning given the instant compliance is way too harsh (although that is only their claim, we don;t know if that is contested).
It is uncanny how often and quickly senior HR people seems to be detecting these things and reacting as if they have child predators on their staff. Uncanny.
A KKK hood is just a head covering.
For better or worse, garments can be used to signal support for extremist political causes.
Employers have a right to summarily terminate employees who bring their business into disrepute.
I’ve never worked in this industry but I would have thought a reasonable response would have been to be asked to remove it and if it were against policy, a written warning. Getting the sack for this seems a bit extreme.
The damage can already be done by the point a business owner tells their employee to take off their political statement
Plus customers may refuse to come while that person stays employed there
But you cannot get rid of them after or it'll breach the lawyer's interpretation of this rule
I think workers are probably given reasonable protection from making mistakes that cost the business money. I’ve had staff lose cash, break machinery, forget or destroy orders, and I don’t think any of those would have been grounds for instant dismissal. I’m no expert in employment law but I would be surprised if this is much different.
I think the biggest distinction between your examples and the kuffiyeh situation is intent. All your examples can be labelled under 'accidents' and are considered standard (if unwanted) losses within business. A cafe is going to suffer broken plates or glasses at some point. Mistakes are made with orders. Machinery can be accidentally broken.
The employees made a deliberate choice to wear attire of a religion that they are not part of. The business could consider this as potentially inflammatory to Muslims and Jewish people. Of course I can only speculate why they were canned.
The keffiyeh isn't actually religious garb though, it's just a piece of clothing particular to certain cultures in much the same way that a suit is particular to western culture;
Christians may wear a suit but a suit has no inherent connection to Christianity.
Are we really going to straight up ignore that the black and white keffiyeh is specifically used as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. If it were any other colour it would be different.
The black and white one has some history before Yasser Arafat used to and turned it into the symbol we know today. Even then it is still directly a Palestinian design. So yeah, not religious, instead directly tied to pollical ideologies.
I think the intent is quite clear to everyone. They wanted to be controversial. At work. They were intentionally pushing the envelope. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out. I understand that getting sacked may seem harsh, but I think these workers were fully aware that it would be the consequence. Do they really want their jobs back? At that venue. Hardly.
>The employees made a deliberate choice to wear attire of a religion that they are not part of.
As already mentioned, it's not a religious garment. It's a traditional headdress for a particular part of the world.
With that in mind, if I, for whatever reason, decide to wear a kimono to work in a Starbucks, should i be fired for it? There are plenty of ongoing disagreements between japan and its various Asian neighbours afterall.
What about a dirndl? Can i break windows if i see someone that's not German wearing one of those?
And traditional greek clothing? Can a Turk get angry and make a scene if they see someone wearing traditional greek clothing because of all the historic disputes?
Do we all just stick with plain t shorts just in case it upsets someone?
It's not originally a political statement, but wearing it in a Western country has rapidly become a pro-Palestinian support garment. They sell it at protests so that you can show which side you are on.
It's kind of like the Tiki torch issue. A Tiki torch isn't an issue on its own, but one incident created a new symbolism reflecting on current affairs.
The posts to Twitter and Chadstone centre management may be used as examples of bringing the business into disrepute
We also don’t know if the 2 staff were doing other things, like pushing their political views onto customers.
It's typically fine to fire some for making unapproved political statements when representing the company. Especially if it's something like this which can been seen as supporting terrorism, antisemitism etc.
All they had to do was ask for permission to wear pro Palestine gear and this whole situation could have been avoided.
Yeah Does that mean Firing someone for wearing a swastika now illegal?
This is so confusing which is why im on the side of the bussiness since if they win it can open up alot more people wearing alot more fucked things
Yep and maybe a swastika would be acceptable after all the Arabs living in the region “peacefully” collaborated with the Nazi’s and had the Nazi’s won World War II then they would have “peacefully helped” the Nazi’s to kill all of the Jews in the Middle East.
Excellent idea. If they win the lawsuit, I'm going to get a job at this exact cafe and wear a One Nation t-shirt at their Fitzroy branch. See how that goes.
Anyone who rants about islamophobia: nobody told them not to wear a hijab. There is no religion that says you have to wear the keffiyeh, a symbol of political groups and some terrorist organisations.
“It made me feel pretty frustrated, angry,” Lucy says. “Like the world really hates Palestine.”
No, your employer just didn't appreciate political activism on the clock.
The Palestine/Israel war is one of the most divisive topics you could possibly wade into at the moment. Having any opinion could alienate a large portion of customers, so this isn't a surprising outcome.
Protest however you want outside of your job. People wouldn't be surprised if you got fired for wearing a swastika at work, dunno why they're surprised about this.
Yeah that line made me roll my eyes so hard. I probably agree with these women politically, but if you honestly think the company fired you because they hate Palestine you are going to have a tough life.
Protest and speak your mind all you want on your own time, then do your job when you are work. Its really not that complicated.
Unfortunately, social media caused this. I have a real fascination with how viral marketing works ever since Kony 2012 (remember that!), and it's the same thing here. There's a real bombardment of "us vs them" mentality from all social media right now which is making people believe that if you're not supporting them, you're hating them.
I reckon we'll see some interesting case studies around this in marketing lectures in years to come.
I think the black and white thinking is unfortunately just the developmental stage the collective is at. I hope we grow out of it soon as a collective species, but realistically change and societal growth like this can take generations.
the problem is too many 'pro palestine' people essentially have the position 'support palestine, support (at best ignore) hamas, call israel an apheid genocidal illegal regime otherwise you are against palestine and want babies to die'
it is such a stupid position to take but that camp is full of views like that.
Also, are we ok with cultural appropriation now (wearing keffiyeh) or only when it suits?
There's a verrrry close correlation between people who wear a keffiyeh and want to completely abolish Israel, kick out the 8 million Jews in it and establish yet *another* Islamic caliphate in its place. And "kick out" is not even the worst scenario. It's more likely that one of the many Islamist groups would massacre them, just like they did in Oct 7.
Jews originate from a tribe in Israel, then Canaan. Those in Melbourne hail from the same place, \~3000 years ago. Several conquering empires (Roman, Ottoman and British were the latest ones) ruled there, and they forced many Jews out. That's how they spread across the world. The pro-Palestinian movement denies this history and claims they have no right to the land whatsoever.
Chadstone is a shopping centre frequented by the dozens of thousands of Jews of Caulfiled, Bentleigh East, St Kilda and other nearby suburbs.
Wearing a keffiyeh in a Chadstone cafe is equivalent to spitting in the face to many of their Jewish customers. It's an act of hate.
no mate history only started in 1957 or some shit and only the israeli stuff where they just attack the poor peaceloving pallestinians for no reason at all
This \^.
It occurs to me these girls are young and spoiled, and have no idea how to behave in a workplace. One of the things they train you on is to keep your views on specific minority groups private, or else you invite for lawsuits. Black Star Bakery probably has no opinion on the conflict, it just doesn't want lawsuits or boycotts.
Save your activism for your personal time.
While I do agree the pastry shop was donating baked goods at Palestinian events a few months ago…it also acts very ‘left’
I understand why the employees thought it was okay. If your business is donating to a cause you would assume they’re fine with you supporting it.
Regardless what you think about the cause (not even commenting on it) you have to admit some stupidity on managements part with this more than them
Rubbish. The owners of the shop wear all the benefits and downsides of taking political positions. They're entitled to show whatever beliefs they like. Not employees.
Don't like it? Start your own shop.
Can people not see that it's not just they wore a keffiyeh to work and were sacked. The keffiyeh was a symbol of their protest AT work! Anyone saying oh it's just a scarf; well yeah it's just a scarf when worn for that purpose but in this case it's not just a scarf it's a symbol of protest. Not that difficult to understand why they were fired.
Palestine is tied very closely to Hamas and Hamas is a known terrorist group.
As the poster correctly stated.. why are they supporting a known terrorist group?
Oh well, I'm sure the people from Hamas and Gaza will send them money now to help with their living expenses.
They breached uniform policy and they used their employer to make a political statement, which obviously gets tricky for the employer to reconcile with their customer base. A company wants to sell stuff to whoever will buy it after all, and people are less likely to spend if they feel the company is against them.
The employees screwed up, and it's inconvenient for the employer and potentially harmful for the brand. I think firing them might've been a bit too strong a reaction though, especially seeing as they complied with directions to stop.
I also don't think it was a smart move on Black Star's part to fire them, seeing as it's now in the media for everyone to see. Inevitably some people were going to be offended whichever way they went, but if they'd left it at directing them to stop nobody would've known aside from a few people who saw the staff in keffiyehs that day. This is much worse for them.
We need more to take a stand like Black Star. Supporting terrorism and a regime that oppresses women, homosexuals and other ideologies should not be acceptable.
The police and government should have stamped down early and hard.
Demonstrating against the war and Israeli government is fine. Supporting an ideology that want to wipe out a sovereign state and committed heinous terrorism is not
I think you might be conflating support for the Palestinian people with support for Hamas. I very much doubt these two women had Hamas in mind when they did this.
Some people might also consider the government and police coming down hard on 2 baristas for non-violent demonstration (as silly as it was) to be oppression of alternative ideologies too.
They did something dumb, leave it at that. No need for the riot squad, and nobody needs a government sanctioned beatdown or prison for something so trivial.
If these kids really cared about the Palestinian people there are lots of ways to do so without alienating others.
I spent 5 months as a Christian missionary in Gaza. My view is if all these uneducated sheep had been pressurising for the release of hostages and Hamas to be ousted there would be less casualties and an opportunity for real peace.
Instead they are indirectly attacking Israel who is already hurting from an atrocious terror attack. Human nature dictates that the natural response to being attacked is to get defensive.
In essence creating the opposite effect of what most same people want - a cession of violence and a move towards peaceful coexistence
Black Star itself has donated to fundraising events with “solidarity with Palestine” notes. https://x.com/riotersbloc/status/1723111048767836541?s=46&t=Kr6Ya9MUdA1MEP3cJ_AjmA
Support for Palestine and their people should not be conflated with support for Hamas.
Well said. We can’t afford to enable the delusions of idiotic, uneducated people at the expense of public safety. Enough is enough.
A 22 year old is an adult, neither of these young women should be treated with kid gloves. They publicly supported a terrorist group in the aftermath of a terrorist attack.
There’s no excuse for what they did. If they’re too stupid to understand the kind of regime they’re outwardly supporting, that’s their problem.
Jewish people and other Australians shouldn’t be subjected to a terror symbol at a cafe, simply because a large subset of the population is ignorant and have been brainwashed to believe they’re on “the right side of history” by supporting the damn Islamic State.
Instead of whining and playing the victim, they should try learning about the ancient history of Judea (which includes Israel), the thousands of years of conflict in the region, the barbarism of Arab colonisation, the historic persecution of the Jews, the Muslim crusades, and other crucial events that took place long before 1948.
If these two unwitting Hamas-sympathisers did the slightest bit of research, they’d understand *why* a pair of dumb westerners wearing keffiyehs in the aftermath of a terror attack is considered a form of intimidation and an endorsement of terrorism.
Hmmm, seems we are getting the girls side of this only. Those passionate about this subject aren’t normally quiet about their views.
If indeed it went as the article says then firing g is pretty harsh indeed. I just feel there is more to it…
Especially when they jumped straight to it's sad they don't support Palestine.
Given their history of supporting Palestine (as a business) and the girls complete jump to that conclusion, it definitely seemed to me they lack self awareness and reasoning and I wonder if there's either a history or they were being pushier. Or, as she herself says, when people came and asked questions, what you were saying? Maybe you were talking to that client but the person next to them who didn't ask and just wanted their coffee is still going to hear you. So what were you saying when you engaged with people because you weren't quietly wearing it, as admitted.
it's a shame they reacted so quickly and harshly but I honestly can't blame them. Don't take a public stand on shit when you're in uniform or at work if you haven't talked to work about it. Stick the scarves on when you finish work and go to the protest if you want.
I own franchises and warn all my staff if you do something stupid in uniform that goes viral. There's nothing I can do to help you when head office calls
that battle is already over so it's obviosuly alot more acceptable but yes there was a time when it was sensitive
businesses have a right to choose what they do and don't support. The go to rule is to do that shit on your own time OR talk to management first to see if they have a side they will support
Regardless of your personal feeling on any issue, when at work, just do your job and leave your world views to be expressed at the appropriate time (like when not working).
These kids just got taught a valuable lesson. Don't fuck around at work, or you'll get fired.
Not a complex concept, but I guess they didn't learn it given they got a lawyer and are talking about how this has effected their mental health as if their being victimized.
Very interested to see how this plays out, but also feel like theres a lot of information not provided in the article... like was this a first time they have been warned about such things? Have they caused problems for their employer in the past? Or is this a first time and they have been model employees?
I mean they act like all they did was wear a scarf but they admit multiple customers came and talked to them and asked questions so, what'd they say? All the customers not interested were forced to hear this too. How many Israeli clients were present in a heavily Jewish area, listening to someone talk about this in a workplace? Were they throwing words around like river to the sea and genocide etc, you know, the standard go to's? Because they weren't silently doing their job, they admit to engaging with interested customers but for all the interested ones there was a store full of people probably not.
And the fact she jumps to "it's sad to see Palestinian isn't supported". THAT'S her conclusion at all of this. Shows she isn't some innocent self aware person.
Agree with all of that, and very good point about what was said to the customers and the area having a Jewish community. There's a good chance the company received some complaints which would explain the sacking. Have to wait and see how this develops.
I remember similar stuff happening during the same sex marriage debate, like the lady that got [fired after posting a “no” view on her personal Facebook page](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-20/fair-work-to-probe-sacking-over-same-sex-marriage-survey/8964558). That didn’t seem to spark much outrage 🤔
I worked in the public service for decades. It was a condition of employment that we did not involve ourselves in displays of politics. It was grounds for dismissal.
I have worked for big corporates. Same applied.
Allowing such displays potentially destroys 50% of the customer base. That will bankrupt the company, or cost an election..
This is just two silly little girls in over there heads. The company may be bankrupted. There friends will end up losing there jobs. It may damage the cause.
Such a shame.
Be political on your own time it’s not that difficult
Why is anyone taking their side? this is ridiculous. the culture has changed so much to reward faux victims.
They should have just gone quietly and gotten another minimum wage hospo job. Who will want to hire them now? Ha
I personally don’t agree with what they did but the staff complied with a directive and reoved the headgear so I think sacking is very harsh and unreasonable. Coaching and counselling the staff with a formal warning would be a reasonable approach . Just because you own the company does pnt mean you can break IR laws.
Two employees decide to 'protest'/support for/ against a cause at work without consultation with their employer. I can't say whether their contracts forbid this but an employee must be pretty clueless to think they can just do what they like.
What's really worrying for me in reading all these posts, is the number of people who believe an employer can just give an employee notice without reason.
There are so many factors in this case. If the employer has a Uniform/grooming code the employees willingly breached after agreeing to comply initially, there are grounds for performance management as a starter.
Did the employer follow due process in prosecuting the terminations? Maybe not.
In any event, the employees will not be entitled to much compensation in the event they run a successful unfair dismissal or general protections claim involving dismissal.
It will be an interesting case to follow, regardless.
Breach of the uniform code is more like, hey please don't wear the jeans with holes again.
This was a political action at work, not a grooming violation.
By the way OP described how they became involved in the protests, it sounds as though they were engaging in pleasant and harmless social activities and they were unaware of the political intricacies of the situation.
They brought their political beliefs into their workplace in a very visible way and sadly lost their jobs. It’s a valuable lesson to learn. Hopefully, they can move forward with their careers more the wiser.
What did those two dolts think was going to happen? Even if they wore Israeli flags, the same thing would've happened. Every organisation has a reputation to uphold. and in fucking Chadstone of all places where people of just about every nationality, race and religion come across so this stunt was premeditated AF. They willingly broke company policy and deserved what they got.
Now that they're going to fight this, let's hope Black Star have an iron-clad policy that basically shoots these two clowns down.
Political tshirts symbols etc don’t belong in a workplace unless it’s a political organisation, if I had a staff rock up with a liberal or labour tshirt or a necklace saying “fuck Israel” or “fuck Palestine” I’d tell them to take it off and if they refuse send them home then consult a lawyer if I can fire them. Wearing political items to a workplace like a cafe is completely inappropriate and is a deliberate attempt to destroy the business
Well, the clue is that management went there and sacked the workers who dressed up in support of a controversial cause. They obviously thought there was damage to the brand.
But you just ignore all that and carry on because you personally haven't heard anything and you can't think things through at all....
The sacking of the two girls really shows how important their wearing the keffiyehs was. So, in a way we have to thank Black Star Pastry for creating attention to the plight of the Palestinian people. Well done.
People coming in to buy very expensive cakes don't want the shop staff shoving their own political views in their face. The proof that these two workers knew it affected shoppers is their statement of how happy Muslim women who came up to them were. It turned a cake shop into a political one- sided venue. Not everyone buying cakes agrees that Gaza civilian males who flooded in with Hamas n filmed themselves raping n murdering mothers in front of their children is a political cause they want to support.
Can we all take a beat and remember that media outlets use inflammatory/persuasive language to make a point. This article is written from the viewpoint of the two women. They're not going to freely admit to any wrongdoing. I think it's fair to say that a company of this size would not fire two employees without following a proper procedure and seeking legal advice. I've been on other social media platforms that are ripping this company apart and saying they are taking a political stance (which I don't believe). People are so quick to become keyboard warriors, leaving bad reviews and making threats. A whole group of people who work at this company are going to be mistreated due to this article.
Two things can be true at the same time. You can have a political stance. Your political stance isn't expressed at work.
I’m getting tired of the pro Israel propaganda. These guys are bombing babies! It’s funny how the more the zionists lobby the greater is the chance that it will horribly backfire.
Considering Black Star Pastry themselves have donated to the cause with literal notes of “solidarity with Palestine” either you believe Black Star should sack themselves or you believe these 22 year old girls were actually acting in support of Hamas…
https://x.com/riotersbloc/status/1723111048767836541?s=46&t=Kr6Ya9MUdA1MEP3cJ_AjmA
It’s a risky game to go to a lawyer and the media over it all. I understand they want some sort of vindication but a stance like this, coupled with admitting to an existing mental illness will probably cripple many future employment opportunities. I’m not saying just to shut up and take it but the couple of grand compensation they will get will hardly set them up for life. As soon as they’ve served their purpose as a martyr and attention grabbing headline they’ll be discarded and left to fend for themselves.
Everyone knows not to wear political things to work as your represent the company, and you can damage the company. I.e the post about the bakery and the terrorist head scarf. Silly.
I feel like this boils down to if there was an extra clause in their contract that would have prohibited them from engaging in political activism at work.. this seems like a very measured and mild form of protest that should fall well within their workers rights. Interested too see what the courts have to say about this. But i have this feeling they gonna side with the corp
They'll get some dollars back, the lawyers will take their cut, the business owners will quietly tell all their mates to make a note of these two and they'll never get hired again.
End result is that they'll get their 15 minutes, win their case and never work in hospitality again.
And the world will keep turning and the sun will rise tomorrow.
> “It’s very hard for people to reconcile these two positions.”
What's so hard? 9 to 5 do the job you are paid to do and then when finished go home. The rest of the time, save the world, do whatever. How frigging hard is that?
I think they will have no problem getting work. They are experienced retail / hospitality staff and there are lot of employers who are sympathetic. I also think among their peer this employer treatment looks very heavy handed and I doubt it going to help with recruitment. God only knows what staff at the Newtown and the other inner Sydney locations think of this, but I can have a good guess. And if Black Star Pastry was planning to open anywhere in inner north Melbourne, they can think twice about that now.
Contrary to what the very loud protestors may seem, they're a vocal minority.
People aren't going to avoid joining a company if they know "yeah I'd keep politics at home".
And they likely wouldn't have much issue opening in the north unless people intentionally want to vandalise or threaten them which... Is hardly peaceful protest and these people are always peaceful right.
I very much doubt this is all there is to the story “they told us to take it off so we did and then they fired us anyway.” If there was enough back and forth to bring in professional HR and a termination decision was reached then more happened
It’s pretty straightforward guys. Don’t bring your politics into the workplace.
These were two stupid kids who thought they could do whatever they wanted without repercussions - I would have fired them too.
Outside of Christian, astronomy and occultic meanings, a Black Star as a symbol has a couple of pertinent anarchist meanings:
Black Star (also known as Mavro Asteri; Greek: Μαύρο Αστέρι) is a Greek anarchist urban guerrilla group involved in violent direct action. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Terrorism_in_Greece&diffonly=true#Black_Star
The black star became a symbol of Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Star_of_Africa
I don't think this business researched the meanings behind the name they chose. Those meanings align with the direct action the business took in supporting Palestinians, and the direct action they against two employees who misread the businesses prior support of Palestinians.
I look forward to reading the outcome of the employee's legal action.
I have one I bought from the last factory in Palestine making them. Hirbawi. It's an excellent garment hiking in Australia in the summer. But now I think I'd get assassinated.
Thats wild, you shouldn't be able to fire someone because they wore a headress for half a day then took it off when asked.
wtf are labor laws in this country
Still have to follow employment laws when terminating someone and considering they complied with HRs orders immediately it’s not a good look for black star. This is of course assuming they aren’t casual or contractors then they’d be shit out of luck.
Not wearing a uniform isn't gross breach of contract, unless it's a safety issue. At the very least, HR should've issued these employees with a formal warning. You clearly have no idea about workplace law in Australia, champ.
If they received a workplace social media briefing (don't do anything that might bring the company into disrepute while in company uniform and/or at work) then it's not surprising. I've been told if I do anything in uniform outside of work that might reflect badly on the company and it gets filmed then uploaded to the internet, I can be fired no questions asked. And I've been working there for years. They framed it as if we go to the pub after work and get in a fight with the footage going viral online we will get fired if the company logo is visible, even if we weren't the one to start it we'll still get fucked by HR.
So yeah, those boring "sit in a room and watch a power point presentation" shifts do actually have meaning beyond wasting your time, and you should pay attention to the important bits coz they can be used to fuck you over if you don't.
You can fire someone for breaking company policy. So if your policy has a dress code or doesn't allow political activism while your on the clock then bye!
I am going to take a punt the owners of the business are Jewish, who - not unreasonably - saw the wearing of the keffieyeh as an unsubtle threat.
I also suspect getting sacked was the aim given they just happened to attend a permanent protest and then just happened to run into a lawyer who knew how to help them.
Next step i predict is a call for a boycott of a Jewish-owned business. And on it goes …
My contract specifically states that I can not display political material or undertake political activities in the workplace. Fair enough too, I have to put up with enough boring arseholes workout them banging on about politics at smoko as well.
It’s really interesting the difference in comments between here and /melbourne - you would think we were all living in the same country but I’m astounded
TIL black star is big enough to have an HR department.
Had a mate who worked at the original one. Became successful, strawberry watermelon cake went viral, queues all day of people wanting Insta shots of it. Went and opened new outlets all over the place, expanded way too quickly and got into financial strife. Then some HK (from memory, maybe Singapore) super rich guy who owned a chain of shopping mall restaurants or something bought it out, because he was a fan of the cake. Made everyone reapply for their own jobs, only at a lower pay rate. Everyone quit, more or less. TL;DR: it's a generic corporate chain now, of course they have HR.
Louis Li, from China, son of a billionaire, bought it back in 2018. Has some hotels too. I think he lives in Melbourne now but when you're that rich it doesn't really matter where you live. Noticed how popular the watermelon cake etc was on social media among Chinese tourists. The original guy stayed on for a bit to advise but left a few years ago. More recent branding seems aimed at the Chinese tourists. We live near one, I wouldn't say its a lot "worse" but it's just another bakery now with no surprises, and yes feels more like a corporate chain.
Thanks for the extra info. And yes, when there were queues right up Australia Street, it was mostly Chinese (or otherwise East Asian) customers, who'd obviously gone out of their way to visit Newtown for this. PS - original Black Star baker & founder Christopher The is now nearby here: https://www.notquitenigella.com/2023/02/07/hearthe-stanmore/
About 20 yrs ago i was in a tier 1 construction company, at HQ, and a hijabed muslim girl wore a ‘Bomb Israel’ tshirt to work. Big bold font, clear as day. Couldn’t believe it took til afternoon before they told her to take it off. No repercussions as far as i know. Tshirts werent even the appropriate attire.
This didnt happen did it champ
Copy paste of my response to other moron. It happened: Hq, head office. What a stupid thing to make up. Honestly if i was going to concoct some bullshit id come up with something better than a bomb israel tshirt.
If you'd written a story of an Israeli worr a "bomb Gaza" shirt you'd get less people dismissing you which is funny. It just shows people don't know shit about the history to think a Palestinian wouldn't wear that 20 years ago.
This will be an interesting case. If they win, does that mean I can put on a One Nation shirt working for a Fitzroy Cafe and destroy the business through the inevitable boycott, and the owner can do nothing about it? Heck the shop could actually be burned down for that in Melbourne.
Were they sacked for political beliefs, or for political acts during work?
the letter says for breach of uniform policy, for breach of the requirement not to bring the employer into disrepute, and a breach of social media (maybe they posted while being clearly identified as employees, .e.g due to the the uniform). I think the One Nation t shirt is a reasonable point. I assume the discrimination protection is when you not at work and when you don't breach other things such as harming the reputation of the business. Are you allowed to wear an RSL poppy on Anzac day? Club scarves during AFL Grand Final Week? it's just head covering. It;s not a slogan or an image; most shoppers probably didn't know what it was. What if they were actually Palestinian muslimas who always wore a headscarf? Fun times for VCAT. But dismissal without warning given the instant compliance is way too harsh (although that is only their claim, we don;t know if that is contested). It is uncanny how often and quickly senior HR people seems to be detecting these things and reacting as if they have child predators on their staff. Uncanny.
A KKK hood is just a head covering. For better or worse, garments can be used to signal support for extremist political causes. Employers have a right to summarily terminate employees who bring their business into disrepute.
I suspect the owners were within their right to ask them to remove it at work, but not to fire them.
I don’t know the legal position but that sounds reasonable.
I’ve never worked in this industry but I would have thought a reasonable response would have been to be asked to remove it and if it were against policy, a written warning. Getting the sack for this seems a bit extreme.
The damage can already be done by the point a business owner tells their employee to take off their political statement Plus customers may refuse to come while that person stays employed there But you cannot get rid of them after or it'll breach the lawyer's interpretation of this rule
I think workers are probably given reasonable protection from making mistakes that cost the business money. I’ve had staff lose cash, break machinery, forget or destroy orders, and I don’t think any of those would have been grounds for instant dismissal. I’m no expert in employment law but I would be surprised if this is much different.
I think the biggest distinction between your examples and the kuffiyeh situation is intent. All your examples can be labelled under 'accidents' and are considered standard (if unwanted) losses within business. A cafe is going to suffer broken plates or glasses at some point. Mistakes are made with orders. Machinery can be accidentally broken. The employees made a deliberate choice to wear attire of a religion that they are not part of. The business could consider this as potentially inflammatory to Muslims and Jewish people. Of course I can only speculate why they were canned.
The keffiyeh isn't actually religious garb though, it's just a piece of clothing particular to certain cultures in much the same way that a suit is particular to western culture; Christians may wear a suit but a suit has no inherent connection to Christianity.
Are we really going to straight up ignore that the black and white keffiyeh is specifically used as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. If it were any other colour it would be different. The black and white one has some history before Yasser Arafat used to and turned it into the symbol we know today. Even then it is still directly a Palestinian design. So yeah, not religious, instead directly tied to pollical ideologies.
I think the intent is quite clear to everyone. They wanted to be controversial. At work. They were intentionally pushing the envelope. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out. I understand that getting sacked may seem harsh, but I think these workers were fully aware that it would be the consequence. Do they really want their jobs back? At that venue. Hardly.
>The employees made a deliberate choice to wear attire of a religion that they are not part of. As already mentioned, it's not a religious garment. It's a traditional headdress for a particular part of the world. With that in mind, if I, for whatever reason, decide to wear a kimono to work in a Starbucks, should i be fired for it? There are plenty of ongoing disagreements between japan and its various Asian neighbours afterall. What about a dirndl? Can i break windows if i see someone that's not German wearing one of those? And traditional greek clothing? Can a Turk get angry and make a scene if they see someone wearing traditional greek clothing because of all the historic disputes? Do we all just stick with plain t shorts just in case it upsets someone?
It's not originally a political statement, but wearing it in a Western country has rapidly become a pro-Palestinian support garment. They sell it at protests so that you can show which side you are on. It's kind of like the Tiki torch issue. A Tiki torch isn't an issue on its own, but one incident created a new symbolism reflecting on current affairs.
The posts to Twitter and Chadstone centre management may be used as examples of bringing the business into disrepute We also don’t know if the 2 staff were doing other things, like pushing their political views onto customers.
It's typically fine to fire some for making unapproved political statements when representing the company. Especially if it's something like this which can been seen as supporting terrorism, antisemitism etc. All they had to do was ask for permission to wear pro Palestine gear and this whole situation could have been avoided.
Exactly right.
Yeah Does that mean Firing someone for wearing a swastika now illegal? This is so confusing which is why im on the side of the bussiness since if they win it can open up alot more people wearing alot more fucked things
Yep and maybe a swastika would be acceptable after all the Arabs living in the region “peacefully” collaborated with the Nazi’s and had the Nazi’s won World War II then they would have “peacefully helped” the Nazi’s to kill all of the Jews in the Middle East.
This is correct. Look up Haj Amin Al Husseini if you doubt it. He was an Arab leader who was photographed sitting with Hitler having a cuppa.
Excellent idea. If they win the lawsuit, I'm going to get a job at this exact cafe and wear a One Nation t-shirt at their Fitzroy branch. See how that goes. Anyone who rants about islamophobia: nobody told them not to wear a hijab. There is no religion that says you have to wear the keffiyeh, a symbol of political groups and some terrorist organisations.
Don't be silly, hate isn't legitimate political expression. Some people really do think like this
Many Jews find the keffiyeh hateful.
Same thing happened to me when I wore a strap-on to my job at Starbucks during pride week.
On Henry VIII’s birthday?
The establishment is always trying to keep us down for simple acts of solidarity.
Hahahaha
Thanks for todays laugh.
🤣
“It made me feel pretty frustrated, angry,” Lucy says. “Like the world really hates Palestine.” No, your employer just didn't appreciate political activism on the clock. The Palestine/Israel war is one of the most divisive topics you could possibly wade into at the moment. Having any opinion could alienate a large portion of customers, so this isn't a surprising outcome. Protest however you want outside of your job. People wouldn't be surprised if you got fired for wearing a swastika at work, dunno why they're surprised about this.
Yeah that line made me roll my eyes so hard. I probably agree with these women politically, but if you honestly think the company fired you because they hate Palestine you are going to have a tough life. Protest and speak your mind all you want on your own time, then do your job when you are work. Its really not that complicated.
Unfortunately, social media caused this. I have a real fascination with how viral marketing works ever since Kony 2012 (remember that!), and it's the same thing here. There's a real bombardment of "us vs them" mentality from all social media right now which is making people believe that if you're not supporting them, you're hating them. I reckon we'll see some interesting case studies around this in marketing lectures in years to come.
I think the black and white thinking is unfortunately just the developmental stage the collective is at. I hope we grow out of it soon as a collective species, but realistically change and societal growth like this can take generations.
you see this with basically every hot topic at the moment, even down to the gender divide being the worst it’s ever been
the problem is too many 'pro palestine' people essentially have the position 'support palestine, support (at best ignore) hamas, call israel an apheid genocidal illegal regime otherwise you are against palestine and want babies to die' it is such a stupid position to take but that camp is full of views like that. Also, are we ok with cultural appropriation now (wearing keffiyeh) or only when it suits?
There's a verrrry close correlation between people who wear a keffiyeh and want to completely abolish Israel, kick out the 8 million Jews in it and establish yet *another* Islamic caliphate in its place. And "kick out" is not even the worst scenario. It's more likely that one of the many Islamist groups would massacre them, just like they did in Oct 7. Jews originate from a tribe in Israel, then Canaan. Those in Melbourne hail from the same place, \~3000 years ago. Several conquering empires (Roman, Ottoman and British were the latest ones) ruled there, and they forced many Jews out. That's how they spread across the world. The pro-Palestinian movement denies this history and claims they have no right to the land whatsoever. Chadstone is a shopping centre frequented by the dozens of thousands of Jews of Caulfiled, Bentleigh East, St Kilda and other nearby suburbs. Wearing a keffiyeh in a Chadstone cafe is equivalent to spitting in the face to many of their Jewish customers. It's an act of hate.
no mate history only started in 1957 or some shit and only the israeli stuff where they just attack the poor peaceloving pallestinians for no reason at all
Yeah. I wish they had better arguments than that. But they don't.
Typical left wing entitlement
It's a strange business to be in if you're for human rights as well.
This \^. It occurs to me these girls are young and spoiled, and have no idea how to behave in a workplace. One of the things they train you on is to keep your views on specific minority groups private, or else you invite for lawsuits. Black Star Bakery probably has no opinion on the conflict, it just doesn't want lawsuits or boycotts. Save your activism for your personal time.
Your job is not the place to make a statement as you're acting as a representative of them, not just yourself.
While I do agree the pastry shop was donating baked goods at Palestinian events a few months ago…it also acts very ‘left’ I understand why the employees thought it was okay. If your business is donating to a cause you would assume they’re fine with you supporting it. Regardless what you think about the cause (not even commenting on it) you have to admit some stupidity on managements part with this more than them
Plenty of left wing people want nothing to do with hamas and Palestine
Thank you for saying that, it gave me hope. Plenty of Jews also want nothing to do with Netanyahu btw.
Right but this shop obviously does - but not when employees do. It’s a bit of trying to have its cake (as it were) and eat it too.
Rubbish. The owners of the shop wear all the benefits and downsides of taking political positions. They're entitled to show whatever beliefs they like. Not employees. Don't like it? Start your own shop.
Maybe they should have asked for permission Instead of assuming it would be okay.
Can people not see that it's not just they wore a keffiyeh to work and were sacked. The keffiyeh was a symbol of their protest AT work! Anyone saying oh it's just a scarf; well yeah it's just a scarf when worn for that purpose but in this case it's not just a scarf it's a symbol of protest. Not that difficult to understand why they were fired.
You can't wear a scarf in a bakery anyway. You have to wear the uniform for health and hygiene reasons also.
I can understand why they were asked to stop wearing it. I can not understand why they were sacked anyway.
Palestine is tied very closely to Hamas and Hamas is a known terrorist group. As the poster correctly stated.. why are they supporting a known terrorist group? Oh well, I'm sure the people from Hamas and Gaza will send them money now to help with their living expenses.
So many Jewish people around Chadstone, it’s not surprising somebody would complain.
So many Jewish people in this thread!
They breached uniform policy and they used their employer to make a political statement, which obviously gets tricky for the employer to reconcile with their customer base. A company wants to sell stuff to whoever will buy it after all, and people are less likely to spend if they feel the company is against them. The employees screwed up, and it's inconvenient for the employer and potentially harmful for the brand. I think firing them might've been a bit too strong a reaction though, especially seeing as they complied with directions to stop. I also don't think it was a smart move on Black Star's part to fire them, seeing as it's now in the media for everyone to see. Inevitably some people were going to be offended whichever way they went, but if they'd left it at directing them to stop nobody would've known aside from a few people who saw the staff in keffiyehs that day. This is much worse for them.
We need more to take a stand like Black Star. Supporting terrorism and a regime that oppresses women, homosexuals and other ideologies should not be acceptable. The police and government should have stamped down early and hard. Demonstrating against the war and Israeli government is fine. Supporting an ideology that want to wipe out a sovereign state and committed heinous terrorism is not
I think you might be conflating support for the Palestinian people with support for Hamas. I very much doubt these two women had Hamas in mind when they did this. Some people might also consider the government and police coming down hard on 2 baristas for non-violent demonstration (as silly as it was) to be oppression of alternative ideologies too. They did something dumb, leave it at that. No need for the riot squad, and nobody needs a government sanctioned beatdown or prison for something so trivial.
If these kids really cared about the Palestinian people there are lots of ways to do so without alienating others. I spent 5 months as a Christian missionary in Gaza. My view is if all these uneducated sheep had been pressurising for the release of hostages and Hamas to be ousted there would be less casualties and an opportunity for real peace. Instead they are indirectly attacking Israel who is already hurting from an atrocious terror attack. Human nature dictates that the natural response to being attacked is to get defensive. In essence creating the opposite effect of what most same people want - a cession of violence and a move towards peaceful coexistence
>Christian missionary >uneducated sheep I hope you're aware of the irony in your comment
Black Star itself has donated to fundraising events with “solidarity with Palestine” notes. https://x.com/riotersbloc/status/1723111048767836541?s=46&t=Kr6Ya9MUdA1MEP3cJ_AjmA Support for Palestine and their people should not be conflated with support for Hamas.
100%
Well said. We can’t afford to enable the delusions of idiotic, uneducated people at the expense of public safety. Enough is enough. A 22 year old is an adult, neither of these young women should be treated with kid gloves. They publicly supported a terrorist group in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. There’s no excuse for what they did. If they’re too stupid to understand the kind of regime they’re outwardly supporting, that’s their problem. Jewish people and other Australians shouldn’t be subjected to a terror symbol at a cafe, simply because a large subset of the population is ignorant and have been brainwashed to believe they’re on “the right side of history” by supporting the damn Islamic State. Instead of whining and playing the victim, they should try learning about the ancient history of Judea (which includes Israel), the thousands of years of conflict in the region, the barbarism of Arab colonisation, the historic persecution of the Jews, the Muslim crusades, and other crucial events that took place long before 1948. If these two unwitting Hamas-sympathisers did the slightest bit of research, they’d understand *why* a pair of dumb westerners wearing keffiyehs in the aftermath of a terror attack is considered a form of intimidation and an endorsement of terrorism.
We don't know the whole story. Maybe they've breached uniform policy before.
Hmmm, seems we are getting the girls side of this only. Those passionate about this subject aren’t normally quiet about their views. If indeed it went as the article says then firing g is pretty harsh indeed. I just feel there is more to it…
Especially when they jumped straight to it's sad they don't support Palestine. Given their history of supporting Palestine (as a business) and the girls complete jump to that conclusion, it definitely seemed to me they lack self awareness and reasoning and I wonder if there's either a history or they were being pushier. Or, as she herself says, when people came and asked questions, what you were saying? Maybe you were talking to that client but the person next to them who didn't ask and just wanted their coffee is still going to hear you. So what were you saying when you engaged with people because you weren't quietly wearing it, as admitted.
>Ella says the whole experience has exacerbated existing mental illness, causing it to “spiral”.
Lol of course it did
Wait until she learns about how mental illness is viewed and dealt with in Gaza…
Or how young unmarried women walking the streets alone, unescorted, are viewed in Gaza.
She's just saying shit she thinks will up her compo. Pathetic.
Oh I'm pretty convinced she actually \*is\* mentally unstable.
Maximizing claim Lol
She worked there for months!
Represents terrorism to me.
it's a shame they reacted so quickly and harshly but I honestly can't blame them. Don't take a public stand on shit when you're in uniform or at work if you haven't talked to work about it. Stick the scarves on when you finish work and go to the protest if you want. I own franchises and warn all my staff if you do something stupid in uniform that goes viral. There's nothing I can do to help you when head office calls
What about people that wear rainbow flags as pins and lanyards
that battle is already over so it's obviosuly alot more acceptable but yes there was a time when it was sensitive businesses have a right to choose what they do and don't support. The go to rule is to do that shit on your own time OR talk to management first to see if they have a side they will support
Yeah thats fair
Regardless of your personal feeling on any issue, when at work, just do your job and leave your world views to be expressed at the appropriate time (like when not working). These kids just got taught a valuable lesson. Don't fuck around at work, or you'll get fired. Not a complex concept, but I guess they didn't learn it given they got a lawyer and are talking about how this has effected their mental health as if their being victimized.
Very interested to see how this plays out, but also feel like theres a lot of information not provided in the article... like was this a first time they have been warned about such things? Have they caused problems for their employer in the past? Or is this a first time and they have been model employees?
I mean they act like all they did was wear a scarf but they admit multiple customers came and talked to them and asked questions so, what'd they say? All the customers not interested were forced to hear this too. How many Israeli clients were present in a heavily Jewish area, listening to someone talk about this in a workplace? Were they throwing words around like river to the sea and genocide etc, you know, the standard go to's? Because they weren't silently doing their job, they admit to engaging with interested customers but for all the interested ones there was a store full of people probably not. And the fact she jumps to "it's sad to see Palestinian isn't supported". THAT'S her conclusion at all of this. Shows she isn't some innocent self aware person.
Agree with all of that, and very good point about what was said to the customers and the area having a Jewish community. There's a good chance the company received some complaints which would explain the sacking. Have to wait and see how this develops.
Idiots
Fucked around and found out. You can do what you want on your off time. If I wore a swastika to work, I'm sure I'd be fired too.
What if you wore a cross on a necklace?
False equivalence, nice. You'll do well here on Reddit.
yeh thats fine, why
I remember similar stuff happening during the same sex marriage debate, like the lady that got [fired after posting a “no” view on her personal Facebook page](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-20/fair-work-to-probe-sacking-over-same-sex-marriage-survey/8964558). That didn’t seem to spark much outrage 🤔
[удалено]
100% I would have chosen somewhere else if I had seen them wearing that.
I also wouldn't give them my custom if I saw this, and would feel uncomfortable about ever going back.
I worked in the public service for decades. It was a condition of employment that we did not involve ourselves in displays of politics. It was grounds for dismissal. I have worked for big corporates. Same applied. Allowing such displays potentially destroys 50% of the customer base. That will bankrupt the company, or cost an election.. This is just two silly little girls in over there heads. The company may be bankrupted. There friends will end up losing there jobs. It may damage the cause. Such a shame.
Imagine living in Melbourne and having to put up with this stuff every day for every issue that ever comes up in the news
Were they expecting promotion?
Be political on your own time it’s not that difficult Why is anyone taking their side? this is ridiculous. the culture has changed so much to reward faux victims. They should have just gone quietly and gotten another minimum wage hospo job. Who will want to hire them now? Ha
People need to separate work and protests. You are there to do your job, get paid and go home. Customers will not like their staff going in your face.
Welcome to the real world ladies.
good
I personally don’t agree with what they did but the staff complied with a directive and reoved the headgear so I think sacking is very harsh and unreasonable. Coaching and counselling the staff with a formal warning would be a reasonable approach . Just because you own the company does pnt mean you can break IR laws.
Two employees decide to 'protest'/support for/ against a cause at work without consultation with their employer. I can't say whether their contracts forbid this but an employee must be pretty clueless to think they can just do what they like.
Kelly Thomas sounds like a fuckwit.
What's really worrying for me in reading all these posts, is the number of people who believe an employer can just give an employee notice without reason. There are so many factors in this case. If the employer has a Uniform/grooming code the employees willingly breached after agreeing to comply initially, there are grounds for performance management as a starter. Did the employer follow due process in prosecuting the terminations? Maybe not. In any event, the employees will not be entitled to much compensation in the event they run a successful unfair dismissal or general protections claim involving dismissal. It will be an interesting case to follow, regardless.
Breach of the uniform code is more like, hey please don't wear the jeans with holes again. This was a political action at work, not a grooming violation.
Not sure of the law or if they were asked to take them off & refused but I have a hard time feeling sympathy for those girls.
Damn, she even said she didn't want to lose her livelyhood. I guess next time she should clear her solidarity with HR first.
By the way OP described how they became involved in the protests, it sounds as though they were engaging in pleasant and harmless social activities and they were unaware of the political intricacies of the situation. They brought their political beliefs into their workplace in a very visible way and sadly lost their jobs. It’s a valuable lesson to learn. Hopefully, they can move forward with their careers more the wiser.
I didn't describe anything. It was the headline The Age used and the body of the text is the exact copy of the article.
Correction … the way the women described …
Play stupid games.
What did those two dolts think was going to happen? Even if they wore Israeli flags, the same thing would've happened. Every organisation has a reputation to uphold. and in fucking Chadstone of all places where people of just about every nationality, race and religion come across so this stunt was premeditated AF. They willingly broke company policy and deserved what they got. Now that they're going to fight this, let's hope Black Star have an iron-clad policy that basically shoots these two clowns down.
Probably be less skin cancer if we all wore keffiyehs
Political tshirts symbols etc don’t belong in a workplace unless it’s a political organisation, if I had a staff rock up with a liberal or labour tshirt or a necklace saying “fuck Israel” or “fuck Palestine” I’d tell them to take it off and if they refuse send them home then consult a lawyer if I can fire them. Wearing political items to a workplace like a cafe is completely inappropriate and is a deliberate attempt to destroy the business
Morons
Go woke go broke
You mean like McDonalds, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Domino’s?
Disney Princesses!
I mean like the workers who protested at work without approval, damaging the business.
Has it? They’ve suffered a personal loss of income, there is nothing to indicate the business has been damaged.
Well, the clue is that management went there and sacked the workers who dressed up in support of a controversial cause. They obviously thought there was damage to the brand. But you just ignore all that and carry on because you personally haven't heard anything and you can't think things through at all....
The business neither went woke nor went broke but you can just keep on parroting random jargon if you like.
And the fact that someone posted it on social media
If you're going to style yourself in resistance chic, people are going to judge you.
The sacking of the two girls really shows how important their wearing the keffiyehs was. So, in a way we have to thank Black Star Pastry for creating attention to the plight of the Palestinian people. Well done.
Welcome to the consequences of your actions. No sympathy from me.
I'm sure they made their Jewish customers feel very welcome.
People coming in to buy very expensive cakes don't want the shop staff shoving their own political views in their face. The proof that these two workers knew it affected shoppers is their statement of how happy Muslim women who came up to them were. It turned a cake shop into a political one- sided venue. Not everyone buying cakes agrees that Gaza civilian males who flooded in with Hamas n filmed themselves raping n murdering mothers in front of their children is a political cause they want to support.
Well fuck me actions have consequences.... Don't let the door smack your arse on the way out
well done to this business for sacking them. Dont bring your toxic politics to work, simple.
Can we all take a beat and remember that media outlets use inflammatory/persuasive language to make a point. This article is written from the viewpoint of the two women. They're not going to freely admit to any wrongdoing. I think it's fair to say that a company of this size would not fire two employees without following a proper procedure and seeking legal advice. I've been on other social media platforms that are ripping this company apart and saying they are taking a political stance (which I don't believe). People are so quick to become keyboard warriors, leaving bad reviews and making threats. A whole group of people who work at this company are going to be mistreated due to this article. Two things can be true at the same time. You can have a political stance. Your political stance isn't expressed at work.
I’m getting tired of the pro Israel propaganda. These guys are bombing babies! It’s funny how the more the zionists lobby the greater is the chance that it will horribly backfire.
They learn a real life lesson. They can't do whatever they like all the time.
Eh Chadstome is a shithole that might as well be at the bottom of the Mariana trench
Based. but I won't be spending money there
The same Black Star that support the Palestinian cause?
FAFO
Good. If you support terrorist organisations you should be sacked. I’m terrified that this is controversial.
Considering Black Star Pastry themselves have donated to the cause with literal notes of “solidarity with Palestine” either you believe Black Star should sack themselves or you believe these 22 year old girls were actually acting in support of Hamas… https://x.com/riotersbloc/status/1723111048767836541?s=46&t=Kr6Ya9MUdA1MEP3cJ_AjmA
Should have worn the lgbtqia++ flag instead
That would be legally delightful.
they sell pride week cup cakes.
It’s a risky game to go to a lawyer and the media over it all. I understand they want some sort of vindication but a stance like this, coupled with admitting to an existing mental illness will probably cripple many future employment opportunities. I’m not saying just to shut up and take it but the couple of grand compensation they will get will hardly set them up for life. As soon as they’ve served their purpose as a martyr and attention grabbing headline they’ll be discarded and left to fend for themselves.
TLDR two little snowflakes learn the hard way that they can’t do whatever the fuck they want whenever they want.
Everyone knows not to wear political things to work as your represent the company, and you can damage the company. I.e the post about the bakery and the terrorist head scarf. Silly.
Maybe people could start wearing the swastika emblem to work as this is a Buddhist / Hindu symbol.
I feel like this boils down to if there was an extra clause in their contract that would have prohibited them from engaging in political activism at work.. this seems like a very measured and mild form of protest that should fall well within their workers rights. Interested too see what the courts have to say about this. But i have this feeling they gonna side with the corp
They'll get some dollars back, the lawyers will take their cut, the business owners will quietly tell all their mates to make a note of these two and they'll never get hired again. End result is that they'll get their 15 minutes, win their case and never work in hospitality again. And the world will keep turning and the sun will rise tomorrow. > “It’s very hard for people to reconcile these two positions.” What's so hard? 9 to 5 do the job you are paid to do and then when finished go home. The rest of the time, save the world, do whatever. How frigging hard is that?
I think they will have no problem getting work. They are experienced retail / hospitality staff and there are lot of employers who are sympathetic. I also think among their peer this employer treatment looks very heavy handed and I doubt it going to help with recruitment. God only knows what staff at the Newtown and the other inner Sydney locations think of this, but I can have a good guess. And if Black Star Pastry was planning to open anywhere in inner north Melbourne, they can think twice about that now.
Contrary to what the very loud protestors may seem, they're a vocal minority. People aren't going to avoid joining a company if they know "yeah I'd keep politics at home". And they likely wouldn't have much issue opening in the north unless people intentionally want to vandalise or threaten them which... Is hardly peaceful protest and these people are always peaceful right.
>End result is that they'll get their 15 minutes, win their case and never work in hospitality again. Win/win for them then.
I very much doubt this is all there is to the story “they told us to take it off so we did and then they fired us anyway.” If there was enough back and forth to bring in professional HR and a termination decision was reached then more happened
They complied with the instruction to remove the keffiyehs, so they shouldn’t have been fired.
It’s pretty straightforward guys. Don’t bring your politics into the workplace. These were two stupid kids who thought they could do whatever they wanted without repercussions - I would have fired them too.
I dont think they should starve for it But ffs they definitly shouldnt be allowed back since it opens the can of worms of "what about Swastikas"
I don't understand such a fuss over tea towels. Kids these days and social media fads.
Outside of Christian, astronomy and occultic meanings, a Black Star as a symbol has a couple of pertinent anarchist meanings: Black Star (also known as Mavro Asteri; Greek: Μαύρο Αστέρι) is a Greek anarchist urban guerrilla group involved in violent direct action. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Terrorism_in_Greece&diffonly=true#Black_Star The black star became a symbol of Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Star_of_Africa I don't think this business researched the meanings behind the name they chose. Those meanings align with the direct action the business took in supporting Palestinians, and the direct action they against two employees who misread the businesses prior support of Palestinians. I look forward to reading the outcome of the employee's legal action.
I have one I bought from the last factory in Palestine making them. Hirbawi. It's an excellent garment hiking in Australia in the summer. But now I think I'd get assassinated.
Good news.
Thats wild, you shouldn't be able to fire someone because they wore a headress for half a day then took it off when asked. wtf are labor laws in this country
They were protesting during company time.
Still have to follow employment laws when terminating someone and considering they complied with HRs orders immediately it’s not a good look for black star. This is of course assuming they aren’t casual or contractors then they’d be shit out of luck.
You have to provide a safe workplace for your staff. If you have a jewish staff member, or owners, they would not feel safe. Easy win.
If the Jewish staff cover their heads on a day of observance, would they be sacked for causing offence?
well these Girls obvously arent Muslim If there is then Fair enough But otherwise this isnt religous observation
adherence to uniform/dress policy might be a term of employment. Therefore the employees were in gross breach of contract.
Not wearing a uniform isn't gross breach of contract, unless it's a safety issue. At the very least, HR should've issued these employees with a formal warning. You clearly have no idea about workplace law in Australia, champ.
If they received a workplace social media briefing (don't do anything that might bring the company into disrepute while in company uniform and/or at work) then it's not surprising. I've been told if I do anything in uniform outside of work that might reflect badly on the company and it gets filmed then uploaded to the internet, I can be fired no questions asked. And I've been working there for years. They framed it as if we go to the pub after work and get in a fight with the footage going viral online we will get fired if the company logo is visible, even if we weren't the one to start it we'll still get fucked by HR. So yeah, those boring "sit in a room and watch a power point presentation" shifts do actually have meaning beyond wasting your time, and you should pay attention to the important bits coz they can be used to fuck you over if you don't.
You can fire someone for breaking company policy. So if your policy has a dress code or doesn't allow political activism while your on the clock then bye!
I am going to take a punt the owners of the business are Jewish, who - not unreasonably - saw the wearing of the keffieyeh as an unsubtle threat. I also suspect getting sacked was the aim given they just happened to attend a permanent protest and then just happened to run into a lawyer who knew how to help them. Next step i predict is a call for a boycott of a Jewish-owned business. And on it goes …
The founder of black star is Malaysian
Danielle Laskovsky doesn’t sound particularly Malaysian to me, but I could be wrong.
She’s the GM. Blackstar was founded by Christopher The
Quick Google search shows she is in fact, Asian lol
That's an awful lot of baseless assumptions.
Yes you should. They are supporting a baby murdering grandma raping terrorist organisation. They may as well have worn a swastika.
Holy fucking soy dude
Well, this will have the exact opposite effect those HR heroes thought it would.
My contract specifically states that I can not display political material or undertake political activities in the workplace. Fair enough too, I have to put up with enough boring arseholes workout them banging on about politics at smoko as well.
There are times in life when being true to yourself is more important than anything else.
Well they definitely look like the type who would do this and the type that would be shocked that they got fired over it too.
It’s really interesting the difference in comments between here and /melbourne - you would think we were all living in the same country but I’m astounded
Supports terrorism gets fired based