Sydney Solidarity Network

Please come along to our next meeting on Saturday 19 September at 3pm to help organise the next Sydney Solidarity action. It will be in Camperdown Rest Memorial Park near The Courthouse Hotel. In the event of bad weather we will be meeting at The Courthouse Hotel. All welcome.

Hi All,

The next Sydsol meeting will be held at The Courthouse Hotel in Newtown at 1pm on Saturday 22nd August. Among other things, we will be discussing next steps in the campaign to recover Yoon’s stolen wages. We hope to see you there.

My name is Miy Yoon. I live in the City of Sydney.

In September 2014, I told my friend Arif that I was looking for a job. Arif said to me that I should go to Duffy’s supermarket in Darlinghurst. He told me that the owner’s name is Nick. Arif told me he is friends with Nick. Arif has an alterations business, fixing clothes, behind the supermarket. Arif said that I should ask for a job from Nick at the supermarket.

I went to Duffy’s supermarket on Friday afternoon [5 September 2015]. On that day I talked to Nick. I met him near the entrance to the shop. I said I wanted a job. He said to me that I should come back on Monday. There would be 3 days of training, and then I would get a job. He asked me if I could do training in the morning. He told me to come on Monday morning at 7:00 am. I said yes.

On Monday I arrived at 7:00am. Nick introduced me to the training person, who had already been working there for a long time. She was an Asian woman, with long hair. I can’t remember her name. For the whole day I followed her and did what she told me to do.

The first thing I had to do was wash all the fruit. I had to wash grapes, and some other fruit. Then she showed me how to peel the skin of other fruit, including oranges and pineapples and a white melon. Then she showed me how to cut the fruit into similar sizes and clean up the fruit – for example, taking out the seeds. After I cleaned and cut the fruit, I gave it to her and she packed it into a round plastic container. She mixed different fruit together and put a sticker on the top. We did this for several hours. There was a lot of packing to be done. I remember being surprised that we were not wearing gloves or hair nets. It did not seem very hygienic.

After some time we changed to packing bananas. She showed me how to pack bananas. We packed them into square white plastic containers. We would put the old bananas on the bottom and the fresh ones on top. They were still in their skins. She showed me how to put the plastic wrap over the bananas in the containers. About 7 bananas fitted in each container. I also remember that if there was a bruise showing on the skin on the top, we would use a sticker to cover that up, so people couldn’t see that it wasn’t fresh. We did the bananas for a long time, maybe two hours, packing making twenty or thirty containers.

We also packed herbs, such as mint. We would clean them up and put them in plastic, using the same plastic wrap.

We also put all the packaged containers in a trolley and then took them into the shop. She did the arranging, showing me, how the packages should be arranged.

I got one break for half an hour. I had some tea and ate some food, which I had brought. It was a sandwich.

In the afternoon she checked which fruit and vegetables and packages had sold, and we made some more. We also arranged the loose fruit and vegetables very nicely.

We cleaned up the dirt which had fallen off the potatoes. I also cleaned up the leftover mess from the onions.

I also packed some other vegetables and foods. There were products which were delivered from outside such as some biscuits. They looked Italian. I packed them in small, round, plastic containers.

Later in the day I had to clean up. I cleaned the leftover skins and other mess. I used a brush, and cleaned the sink. I also mopped the floor. I also followed her to the freezer room, near Nick’s office – just behind. The training woman checked which fruit and vegetables were fresh, and which needed to be sold quickly. She checked everything and selected things we had to bring out into the shop. She peeled some carrots and cut them and packed them.

After cleaning she showed me the garbage bin. There were many boxes left over. She showed me how to crush them in the machine. I crushed boxes to make them flat.

I also did a bit of butcher work. I packed some meat. I think the butcher had not finished his job, so we needed to do some packing of meat. It was interesting actually. It was the first time I had seen a butchers machine. She knew how to use the machines. I helped.

I finished at about 5:00pm. When I finished I signed a book, which all the employees sign. I wrote down my start and finish times. After finishing I went to my friend Arif’s shop, and then I went home.

The next day I arrived and left at the same times and I did similar work, although not the butcher’s work.

On the third day I also did similar work. On that day Nick came to our working area, and asked the woman who was training me “How was she?” (meaning me). The woman who was training me said I was very fast and learning quickly. I asked if I should come in again. Nick said he would call me. He asked for my number. I wrote it down in a book for him. The book had other employees’ names and numbers in it.

On the days I worked, there were a number of other staff present, including the woman who I think is the manager. She is a European woman with brown hair. I think her name is Vinka. (When I returned with Sydney Solidarity Network, she remembered me.)

The next day, which would have been Thursday, he didn’t call me in the morning, so I went in in the afternoon to ask if I could work. He said he would call me.

I waited until the next week. On the Monday I went in in the afternoon and spoke to Nick. I asked for a job again. He said that it wasn’t busy and he said he would call me. I went again later in the week – I think it was Wednesday. He said the same thing. So I gave up on the idea of a job. Instead I asked him to pay me for the three days I had worked. He said that it was training and so he didn’t have to pay me. He offered to pay me for one day, but I said no, he should pay for all three days. He said he wasn’t going to pay anything.

I went back again the next day and also the week after and asked him to pay me for the three days and he refused. I went back once more, some months later. That time he said to me “If you come back to my shop one more time I’m going to call the police.” He also yelled at me and said that he had plenty of money and had a solicitor. He said that I should just get a solicitor if I could afford it.

So I didn’t go back again until I went with the Sydney Solidarity Network.