Redlands hospitality staff stood down during COVID-19 crisis

Employees from Sirromet Wines were sent termination letters last week notifying them of the tough decision.

"Staff are devastated as it affects everybody including students who pay for their studies and own accommodation," said one of the former employees.

She said the letter also urged employees to access JobSeeker Centrelink payments and find other employment as Sirromet had no idea how long the crisis would last.

Some staff had been working at the winery for years while others were casual employees.

The government has rolled out the Jobkeeper payment aimed at paying a flat $1500 per fortnight subsidy to all workers in businesses whose revenue has fallen by at least 30 per cent, including part-timers and full-timers, and casuals who have had the same employer for 12 months.

Sirromet Wines general manager Rod Hill said like many hospitality and tourism businesses in Australia, Sirromet has been decimated by the restrictions on trade.

"Sirromet has had no choice but to reduce to a skeleton staff as we work through these very tough times and look at all options and support available to us to get through this crisis," he said.

Bowman MP Andrew Laming said he was working with Sirromet to ensure they secured all possible federal government assistance, including Jobkeeper payments to every eligible staff member which will flow on May 1 backdated to March 1.

The Courthouse Restaurant owner Mary Gibb said the Cleveland venue has taken a huge hit, with restaurant and function cancellations starting from the second week of March.

"But we were not alone. The hospitality industry was already so vulnerable with January and February traditionally the quietest months of the year. Particularly painful this year as we all tried to support the fire victims in January and deal with the significant rain events of February, which for us impacted our internet, our phone service, our sound system and other damage. It seemed like one battle after another, in an industry with already very tight margins, it was painful before Covid-19," she said.