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Transfield Staff Told They Can Be Fired For Belonging To A Church That Doesn’t Worship Transfield

By theunaustralianblog on 09/04/2015

Transfield Services, the Australian company that run’s Australia’s offshore immigration detention centres has warned staff that they can be fired on the spot if they belong to a church that doesn’t worship Transfield Services.

“Under our equality and diversity in the workplace policy, our employees are free to practice any religion they wish, be it Christian, Muslim, Jew, or that other one, as long as they worship, the one true god, Transfield,” a company spokesperson told The (un)Australian.

The change in policy, which has been in place since February, also prohibits employees from following or from being followed on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, anyone who is or has been an asylum seeker. It has been confirmed that a security guard who tweeted a joke with over 500 likes was terminated after management discovered that the joke had been retweeted by Russell Brand.

Transfield Services is one of Australia’s biggest companies and are involved in many sectors of the economy. Their diverse interests run the gamut from curtailing the rights of workers in offshore detention centres, all the way to curtailing the rights of outsourced cleaning staff.

Workers at Nauru have informed the unAustralian that they’re unhappy with the change in policy, believing it’s an attempt silence dissent against offshore processing and maintain a social media blackout.

However, a representative for Transfield Services stated that the new policy is for cases where “there’s a clear conflict of interest when a worker’s personal activities, social media postings, or engagement with spiritual leaders, could be perceived to oppose the work an individual undertakes or makes management look bad.”

The spokesperson also assured the (un)Australian that the change in policy was completely unrelated to the Moss report, which found credible evidence of physical and sexual abuse of asylum seekers, including children.

“The fact that the government received the Moss report in February is entirely unrelated to our company using threats of termination to silence our employees since February.

“Transfield Services is not the first company and/or religion to be accused of the acts outlined in the Moss report, and we are certain that once the Senate committee concludes its inquiry into our actions on Manus Island that faith in Transfield, and his prophet, Graeme Hunt, will remain unaffected among our staff.

“Otherwise, they’ll be fired.”

Matthew Farthing is a senior correspondent for The (un)Australian. In high school, his nickname was “the Blonde Bullet” which is just one of 37 things he shares in common with Tom Petty.

https://twitter.com/MattJFarthing

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