Issue 126 ·Wednesday, May 16, 2001
STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
FREE
Students attack agencY.'s dodgy_gractices But LLT student, Maria has blasted her bosses for the poor conditions of wor1<.
by KATIE HIND News Editor
INVESTIGATION
ANGRY students have slated a local temping agency for its sharp employment practices. Maria Nikita and Corina Giacomello have accused Aptus formerly known as Initial Personnel - of a string of unacceptable working procedures. The allegations include:
• Not paying workers for the full time worked • Not telling them when shifts were cancelled • Sending them to food fact~ rles without hygiene checks • Overloading minibuses used to transport students • Not giving out paysllps • Leaving students waiting for
hours for lifts home • Avoiding the UEA pick-up point If they have too many workers on the buses • Reverse charges phone calls to arrange shifts The company employs dozens of students to wor1< in factories all across Norfolk, and provides them with transport to and from wor1<.
Chicken "I was told to wor1< at the chicken factory , but I can 't because I haven't had a health check," she complained. "For the first few days I wor1<ed there, they were putting 20 instead of 16 people on the bus, so I was sitting on the floor," she said. And second-year student Corina has hit out at Aptus bosses for not picking her up when she had finished a night shift. "They left me in Attleborough at 7am and wouldn't come to pick me up, but luckily someone gave me a lift. When I confront-
ed them they said they had two buses that day and didn't know who was on what bus." "They didn't care," she said. Aptus Manager, lan Fik denies the accusations - and believes his firm operates fairly. "I haven't heard of any of these problems, so I would have to speak to the students in question as the old manager left two weeks ago," said Mr Fik.
Fault And he insists the problems are not his fault - claiming that the students are to blame too. "The payslips are not always received as students just give us their address as the University of East Anglia and buses are full because people just tu m up for shifts without let-
NEW LIBRARY: RISING FROM THE ASHES
• Shifts cancelled at short notice • Minibuses too full • Workers and factories misled over hours • Students left stranded at remote locations ling us know." But a Concrete undercover investigation confirmed that the company is engaged in some poor practices. Our reporter signed up to wor1< with Aptus, and was sent to wor1< in a wine packing factory.
Bullying Once there she faced bullying by factory bosses to wor1< longer shifts than those arranged with Aptus, and was offered transport to and from the site on
Builders put the final touches to Norwich's £60m Millennium Library, between the city's market and the Theatre Royal, and due to open In September. The previous Central Library was destroyed by fire. A separate replacement for the Norfolk Studies Library will be built at County Hall and Include records from UEA's Centre for East Angllan Studies and Film Archive.
Railcards
overpacked mini buses. "We were put into a really awkward situation, because the factory had been told by Aptus that we would wor1< longer hours than we had agreed."
Nowhere "We were in the middle of nowhere, and there was no way for us to get home," she said. "In the minibuses, there were three people sitting on seats meant for two. There were seatbelts, but there was no way you could use them."
Exploited: Maria Nikita and Corina Giacomello
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