A union secretary has slammed supermarket chain Aldi for trying to overturn workplace laws and gain the right to force employees to work more than 38 hours a week . The Transport Workers ' Union 's National Secretary Tony Sheldon condemned the requested change to the Fair Work Act and accused Aldi of trying to reintroduce serfdom . 'Major retailers like Aldi are trying to turn the clocks back on our modern society to reintroduce serfdom , ' Mr Sheldon in a statement . Aldi has requested the ability to make employees work more than 38 hours in a submission to Workplace Relations Productivity Commission . 'Their model is to keep workers employed on vulnerable part-time and casual basis , increasing and reducing their hours when they see fit . ' National Secretary of the Transport Workers ' Union , Tony Sheldon , accused Aldi of trying to reintroduce serfdom . His comment was made amidst a new submission from the supermarket giant to the Workplace Relations Productivity Commission , in which it recommended that the National Employment Standards be amended to 'enable employers and employees greater flexibility to determine reasonable working hours above the standard 38 hour week ' . Aldi 's last attempt to increase workers hours in 2012 failed despite the supermarket chain arguing that their employees 'overwhelmingly supported ' and 'preferred ' the proposals . 'ALDI 's experience is that employees are keen for the opportunity of guaranteed additional hours and commensurate income , and prefer this arrangement to a limit of 38 hours plus additional hours to be worked as needed , ' David Zalunardo , Aldi 's managing director , wrote . However Mr Sheldon argued that the employer had been stopped for good reason , saying the chain had tried to 'strip workers of their rights ' . 'The Transport Workers ' Union and its members acted against this billion-dollar company in 2012 , when it tried to strip workers of their right to refuse to work unreasonably long hours , ' he said . Mr Sheldon responded by saying : 'Aldi ... believes the right of workers to challenge bad workplace agreements is `` not acceptable in a modern , flexible economy '' ' 'Aldi then failed the legal and fairness test , but now in a submission to the Productivity Commission it is seeking again to scrap the same safeguards . 'We can only hope that Aldi 's dream for the Australian economy never comes true . ' The grocery store also protested union 's power to interfere in enterprise agreements , arguing that a recent incident , in which a union representing only ' a very small number of employees ' delayed an agreement , caused 'negative consequences…in terms of uncertainty , financial costs and distraction from managing the business ' . 'Based on our experience , the length of time taken for FWC consideration of enterprise agreements can be unduly prolonged , costly and disruptive to continuing business operations , which is disadvantageous to all stakeholders . This is not acceptable in a modern , flexible economy , ' Mr Zalunardo wrote . Mr Sheldon responded by saying : 'Aldi ... believes the right of workers to challenge bad workplace agreements is `` not acceptable in a modern , flexible economy '' . '
Aldi has requested the ability to make employees work more than 38 hours in a submission to Workplace Relations Productivity Commission . Supermarket giant was slammed by union secretary Tony Sheldon . He accused Aldi of reintroducing serfdom and 'trying to strip workers of their rights '