By Luke Voogt
Lorne’s Falls Festival should scrap a program paying voluntary workers with tickets amid concerns of exploitation, according to a local unions leader.
“If workers are going to do the work, the employers have got to pay the rates,” said Geelong Trades Hall secretary Colin Vernon.
“These kinds of programs can leave workers vulnerable and open to exploitation.”
Mr Vernon said programs offering gifts instead of money made workplace rights “murkier”.
“Do they get a choice between getting paid and getting a ticket? They should have that option at least.”
Some employers had previously used similar programs to boost profits, he said.
Mr Vernon said he had heard reports of people involved in the festival with-holding tickets to make volunteers work harder.
“Not only were people being paid for with tickets instead of money but there was also a rumour that not all workers would receive tickets at the end of the day.
“If this is the case it’s an absolute disgrace.”
The festival also had a responsibility to ensure third-party contractors at the venue were not using free tickets to exploit volunteers, Mr Vernon said.
“You’d hope there would be a process in place that would check that vendors were doing the right thing.”
Festival management denied with-holding any tickets, said publicist Stacey Piggott .
“We changed over our ticketing company this year so the process timeline is slightly longer than last year, which is why there’s been a delay in tickets getting to the vollies.”
Some festival vendors also offered volunteers tickets for work, Ms Piggott said.
“We strongly encourage anyone having issues with tickets being withheld for any reason to contact us at info@fallsfestival.com and we will sort it out.”
The Falls Festival program offers each volunteer a three-day ticket worth $299 for 14 hours’ work, plus free parking, basic meals and camping.
The lowest-paid trainee on a casual rate would receive $319 under the Live Performance Award for working the same hours.
The lowest-paid non-trainee would earn $347.90 at a casual rate.
The award stipulates double time for Sundays and public holidays, which includes the last day of the festival, on 31 December, and during clean-up on New Year’s Day.
