A Big Ben pie maker sacked after refusing to chuck out a dead cockroach collection stored in his locker has lost his claim for unjustified dismissal.Private Bin is convinced the makers of the staple after-midnight munchie cure would prefer this news not t
A Big Ben pie maker sacked after refusing to chuck out a dead cockroach collection stored in his locker has lost his claim for unjustified dismissal.
Private Bin is convinced the makers of the staple after-midnight munchie cure would prefer this news not to get out, but there you go… it’s out.
Henry Faumuina worked for Purity Foods, a division of George Weston Foods, for more than 20 years.
He was sacked three years ago for his unauthorised cockroach storage and just this month the Employment Relations Authority has said the firing was all above board.
Private Bin is perplexed, however. The case of the Big Ben cockroaches has taken three years to be resolved by the ERA.
Apparently the Bakers Union believes the company has one of the strictest food hygiene standards it is aware of, so there are questions over where the cockroaches came from.
Mr Faumuina claimed he found them on the premises.
While Private Bin knows that cockroaches can be crafty little beasts and end up in places where they have no good reason to be, our preference would be that they were nowhere near the steak and cheese department of Big Ben.
Given that Private Bin has hauled hundreds of Big Ben’s sometimes-too-hot and sometimes-too-cold cellophane-wrapped mince and steak and cheese pies from servo warmers over the years without finding a trace of any critters, we rest comfortably in cholesterol-addled bliss, satisfied all bugs are, at least, safely locked up and won’t make it to a pie warmer near you.
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