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In 2015 the AMWU is focused on Building a Movement for Change. We’ve already seen huge wins in Victoria and Queensland, where members campaigning for manufacturing jobs have helped turf out first term conservative governments which were targeting workers and their families. But we must stay vigilant and keep up the fight. We know the economy is moving in the wrong direction – including Australia hitting a 12-year unemployment high of 6.4%, up to 7.3% in South Australia. We know the federal government’s budget and legislation continues to attack the most vulnerable in our society. And we know that the Government continues to blame workers for the country’s woes. That means we’ve been working hard to fight back. Building change in our workplaces, in the community, and meeting politicians to make sure they know what our members expect of them. Already we’ve seen some great victories achieved by blocking legislation from passing the Senate. We’ve stopped the Government cutting the Automotive Transformation Scheme. We’ve stopped them trying to cut the Fair Entitlements Guarantee. They’ve backflipped on cutting defence force pay, and on the Medicare co-payment. As I write this, higher education ‘reforms’ have failed to pass the Senate yet again. And the future of our naval shipbuilding industry remains a top priority thanks to the pressure members have been putting Members of Parliament
under around Australia. All this is the direct result of a co-ordinated effort by the union movement. We’ve made sure that MPs understand the problems with these Bills by making submissions to inquiries, campaigning in the community and the media and through rank and file members meeting with MPs directly. We need to develop a campaign for an alternative agenda – to fight for the change we want to see. We’ve seen what can be achieved when we hit the ground and make the case for progressive policies – we saw it in Victoria, in the Hunter in NSW and in Queensland.
That’s why we will start with workplace meetings talking about the issues and listening to their concerns and issues. We will use the knowledge we gain from our workplace meetings to build an alternative union agenda at the ACTU Congress in May this year, an agenda we can take to the community. And from there we will need to challenge the ALP at their National Conference for the policies we want for
HAVE A GOOD IDEA FOR WHAT DESIGN SHOULD GO ON UNION MERCHANDISE?
AMWU DESIGN COMPETITION
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jobs, industry and an economy that looks after all. It’s these actions that will allow us to keep building our capacity for change. We’ve seen it work. We know it works. So over the next year, we will be continuing to take the fight up. We’ll be organising, educating, activating. We’ll be in workplaces. We’ll be out in the streets, we’ll be talking to the community. And we’re going to build a Movement for Change. I look forward to seeing you on the campaign.
We can win if we build for change from the ground up and take the community with us. Success for us is about the level of our members commitment and engagement. And this is already growing around the country, with fantastic work by members in their state elections and in community campaigns, such as in rail and shipbuilding.
Fancy yourself a bit of an artist?
Paul Bastian AMWU National Secretary
REVOLUTION 4 CASUAL very Road 5 ARocklea SAVES GAS JOBS 5 UNION WIN RUMBLES NATION 6 Feature-QLD MEMBERS’ 8 NEW BIG STEPS VIEW OF AMWU 10 INTERNS’ YOUR OWN UNION DESIGN 10 COMPetition: LIGHTS 11 Book-NORTHERN ROD GRAHAM 12 DelegateAMWU NEWS AUTUMN 2015 AMWU News is the official publication of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, (registered AFMEPKIU) National Office, 133 Parramatta Road, Granville, NSW, 2142. Editor: Paul Bastian AMWU Communications Team: Tamsin Lloyd, Neil Wilson and Andrea Firehock. Design: dcmc Design, Melbourne. All information included in this publication was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change at any time. Please contact your union organiser for updates. © AMWU National Office
Made in Australia by AMWU members
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HELP US LAUNCH A CASUAL REVOLUTION The AMWU is set for a major push to transform the lives of casual workers by giving real teeth to their right to convert to permanent employment after six months service. Our union is preparing a landmark Fair Work Commission case this year to alter casual conversion provisions of AMWU modern awards so that permanency will become automatic after six months at a company, unless the casual employee chooses to remain casual. But we need your help in reaching this milestone. The union’s research unit is
asking any union members who have been refused permanency or feel they have been discriminated against when asking to contact us. We are building evidence to put before the FWC when the case starts, expected mid-year.
co-ordinator Sally Taylor. “Their families often suffer from a chronic lack of certainty, living week-to-week and unable to plan for the future.
must make the move to request permanency, in writing. “Many people don’t go ahead or don’t persist because they fear being discriminated against, having pay or hours cut or even being sacked for asking,” she said.
“Some employees, particularly those with caring responsibilities, do need flexibility. But that doesn’t have to mean insecure, “That’s why we need change casual jobs. Flexibility can be so that conversion happens achieved with good quality, partautomatically.” time work and creative enterprise bargaining arrangements.” Contact us at
We also want to hear from members who were casual, but are now permanent, full or part-time. “Employers emphasise the convenience and flexibility of casual work, but we know many people work casually because they can’t get permanency and they miss out on the security of assured shifts, holiday pay, and sick leave,” said AMWU research
Ms Taylor said a big part of the existing problem was that the onus for converting fell totally on the worker, who
casualscase@amwu.asn.au
OR CALL 02
8868 1500
and ask for Sally Taylor.
‘GADDO’ - TOO HANDY TO BE PERMANENT For eight long years Graham ‘Gaddo’ Gadsden was treated like a footballer always on the interchange bench - used in spurts, plugging different positions, never sure how long he’d be on and never made to feel a full part of the team.
understanding. Years of on-call uncertainty, of split shifts and varying income flows took their toll on his body clock and finances as he and
The lives of Graham and his young family revolved around the daily production flows and the whims of past managers at Heinz baby food factory in Echuca, who might or might not call him in for a shift at any given time of the day, night or the week.
finances to pay their mortgage, a legacy of those casual years. “You’d get up in the morning not sure what would happen, so you might mow the lawn, then in the afternoon have a sleep in case they call you up for the night,” Graham said. “They don’t call, so you’re lying there half the night staring at the ceiling, then as you’re drifting off the phone goes at 5am and they say ‘we need you, come straight in’.”
“I got called in one night a half-hour before we were due to go to a kindergarten daddydaughter night,” he recalls. “A mate went in place of me.” He kept asking, but he wasn’t the only casual to be denied permanency for years – one mate took six years and it took a woman he knows seven. It’s only now, a few years after the AMWU succeeded in finally winning him permanency at Heinz, that Graham’s got his old zest back and is putting in big time at a job he loves, with bosses who are more
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Long wait for certainty: Graham Gadsden with wife Karen and children (L:R) Anastasia, Cassandra, William and James.
partner Karen had their four children. Toddlers and babies also meant Karen couldn’t work because an adult always needed to be there. The couple are still juggling
Unlike many casuals disadvantaged by being denied training, Graham feels his Achilles heel was being trained on a variety of jobs so he could be used like a skilled spare parts player in the kitchen, the filling floor and the labelling or pouch line.
“Instead of rostering me for shifts they’d hold me back in reserve, so they could call me in if there was an emergency or someone called in sick,” he said.
“I was told they referred to me as ‘too handy’ as a casual to go full-time. I got tired of seeing people I’d helped train getting permanent jobs on top of me. That really hurt me.” Graham took one ‘holiday’ in eight years, four days for the family at the snow at Falls Creek. Otherwise, it was camping weekends on the Murray River – always in mobile range, close enough to Echuca in case he was suddenly called in. It was taking alternative casual work in Echuca which led to Heinz agreeing to give him more regular shifts, as they realised they couldn’t call him in at their convenience. Ironically, steadier work in those final few casual years meant he lost money to go permanent, but he leapt at the chance to finally get his worklife balance orderly for the sake of his wife and kids. “Just after I went full-time one of our team leaders said to me: “We’ve got no Gaddo to call in – what will we do now?”
SWEET OUTCOME FOR DARRELL LEA MEMBERS The AMWU has whipped up huge community support to win half a million dollars in compensation owed to six former employees of iconic confectionery company Darrell Lea. Darrell Lea management melted under the heat of an AMWU campaign to name and shame them for defying a Fair Work Commission order to meet the redundancy entitlements. AMWU NSW State Secretary Tim Ayres led emergency talks with the company, which agreed to pay up 48 hours after it was publicly exposed in TV news reports and suffered a public backlash on social media.
and disabled sister. Mr McNeil said the company’s move to Ingleburn in Sydney’s southwest had made it impractical for him to combine his travel, work and caring duties.
Payout victory: AMWU members seeking justice travelled with NSW State Secretary Tim Ayres (centre) to a Gold Coast creditors meeting. L:R Josefa Atalifo, Bill Stueski, Tim Ayres, Mark McNeil, Steve Perry.
awarded redundancy by the FWC in January after it found their personal circumstances meant they were unable to relocate to a new factory across Sydney.
Mr Ayres thanked hundreds of AMWU members who let Darrell Lea know of their disgust by inundating its facebook page with angry messages.
But their direct employer, DL Employment Pty Ltd, was placed into voluntary administration within days of the ruling in a calculated move to avoid meeting its obligation to the workers.
The workers, with between 12 and 36 years of service, were
“We said we’d be fighting until these workers got every last
dollar and that’s exactly what has happened,” Mr Ayres said. “This is what unions do best – making sure we get a fair go for workers and their families.” The company agreed to settle in talks with Mr Ayres and Legal Officer Lucy Saunders. One of the workers, Mark McNeil, said it was an incredible relief to know he would now get about $75,000 to help fund his retirement and to look after his frail, elderly mother
“I thought the company might relent but I wish it hadn’t got to this stage. I hope the public still buy Darrell Lea products for the sake of all the workers,” he said. “The AMWU has been terrific throughout this ordeal, we’d all have been out on the street with nothing if it hadn’t been for our union.” Steve Perry, with 36 years service at Darrell Lea until last May, said the union had successfully run two FWC cases, then campaigned in the media when the company shirked its responsibility. “If there’s any people out there wondering about whether to join a union, this paints the picture,” he said.
The AMWU has been terrific throughout this ordeal, we’d all have been out on the street with nothing if it hadn’t been for our union.
AMWU saves hundreds of Aussie Jobs The AMWU has secured hundreds of Australian offshore construction jobs on the Inpex gas project off Darwin, as the Abbott Government’s disastrous maritime visa changes make it easy for employers to bring in foreign workers. Offshore contractor Saipem had planned to use the visa change to bring in foreign workers on its pipe laying vessel Castorone, on inferior wages and conditions. The move was made possible after Assistant Immigration Minister Michaelia Cash used a technicality to open up a loophole in Australian immigration requirements for the maritime industry. But a week-long intensive series of negotiations between the AMWU and Saipem in January yielded a commitment from the company to maintain a 90 per cent Australian construction crew on the massive gas project.
Offshore Lead Organiser Glenn McLaren was joined by WA State Secretary Steve McCartney for the talks which took place on the Casterone, which at the time lay off Malaysian waters. The fight saved over 600 Australian jobs on the largest offshore pipe-laying project currently underway in the southern hemisphere.
in Australia and make the company realise it was in its long-term interest to use local labour. “This is a victory for every Australian who values skilled local jobs and a future for our kids.”
A further attempt to extend the rosters was also successfully resisted after consultations between AMWU leadership and hundreds of union members, preserving the standard maritime threeweek even time rotation.
The AMWU win came as the Abbott Government seeks to ease restrictions on hiring 457 Visa workers, plus introduce a ‘short term mobility visa’ which would scrap safeguards such as labour market testing and skill requirements.
Swinging into action: the AMWU’s WA State Secretary Steve McCartney (right) joined workers boarding the Casterone.
“At a time of rising unemployment, the latest move by the Abbott Government is a kick in the guts for every Australian worker,” Mr McCartney said. “I’m proud we were able to use our leverage as a unionised workforce to keep high skilled jobs right here
The giant pipe laying ship the Casterone.
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QLD TRIUMPH R
The AMWU was in the vangu discontent with conservative
Can I thank the union movement, because it… stands up each and every day and fights for better conditions for workers right across this state. – Queensland Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk,
Marchers sent the shell-shocked Abbott Government another reminder that the damage had already been done to public trust by political leaders who arrogantly hacked into education, health and industry programs in breach of their election promises. The direct focus was on the Coalition Government’s attack on collective bargaining, superannuation, penalty rates and the minimum wage through its Productivity Commission inquiry. Nearly 100,000 people marched in 17 state capitals and regional centres, including AMWU members who also flocked to our Delegate Forums in the weeks around the protest. The mood was euphoric at Delegate Forums in Brisbane and regional Queensland in wake of our union’s pivotal role in throwing out the Newman LNP regime, which also inspired our NSW delegates fighting electricity privatisation in their election. QLD and NT State Secretary Rohan Webb said: “The Queensland result sends a message to conservative governments and the employers backing them that Australians are fed up with cuts to community services, selling off their public assets, driving down wages and
election night 2015.
Winning power play: AMWU Qld State Secretary Rohan Webb with new Queensland Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk (centre) and new MP Shannon Fentiman (an AMWU member) during the epic election campaign. March 4: Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney
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RUMBLES ACROSS NATION
uard of a union protest across Australia on March 4 to ram home the community governments which produced historic election results in Queensland and Victoria. increasing casualised work as they offshore our manufacturing.”
launches and the polling booths on the fateful election day.
“These governments will be thrown out, federal or state.”
Mr Webb said our members’ links into their local communities could not be matched by the LNP, proven by massive swings of between 9.1 and 17.4 per cent in the six seats we targeted.
Mr Webb told AMWU delegates he was confident they would finally be heard in growing manufacturing jobs under the new Palaszczuk Government. The new QLD Government contains cardcarrying AMWU members, including Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure Jackie Trad in South Brisbane, Shannon Fentiman in Waterford, Brittany Lauga in Keppel and Peter Russo in Sunnybank. Mr Webb said these Labor MPs had pledged to prioritise growing new manufacturing industries as our union poured resources and grassroots support into their electorate campaigns. The AMWU was not caught napping by Campbell Newman’s snap holiday election and our state campaign team met on the January afternoon he called it and swung straight into action. Over 200 volunteers helped distribute election materials, doorknocked, set up streetstalls and enlivened fundraising events, rallies, campaign
That included Everton and Southport, where AMWU members Jeff Frew and Rowan Holzberger just fell short of victory. “We will be patiently working with the new Government on their transition plan for manufacturing. We want to attract new players in nano-science, software development, robotics, bionics, medical science, renewables and aeronautics,” Mr Webb said. “Queensland industry and infrastructure are not being used to full capacity and it can be revived through co-investment with the private sector, guided by government, business and trade unions working together.” Other priorities included repairing the TAFE training system, Skilling Queensland and boosting apprentice places. Labor was starting with a $523 million spend on new infrastructure to kick-start the economy but
In the field: AMWU official Julie Ann Campbell briefs volunteers as they prepare for polling day.
will look for innovative ways to use Private Public Partnerships to finance major projects and repair the state’s health services and schools. Mr Webb said the stunning Queensland triumph proved that Australians did not think it was necessary to sell off or lease their electricity assets to finance new infrastructure.
AMWU HEAPS ON JOBS PRESSURE IN NSW POLL The NSW Branch of our union took inspiration from other states to pour pressure on the Baird Coalition Government for its wanton abandonment of manufacturing jobs. Election campaign headlines about electricity privatisation dominated the mainstream media, but issues of jobs, local content on government projects, restoring proper Workers’ Compensation benefits and repairing the TAFE training system also struck a chord with voters in marginal NSW seats. State Secretary Tim Ayres said these issues had convinced many voters who spoke to our volunteers that “smiling, handshaking, happy” Premier Mike Baird was as bad as PM Tony Abbott. Dozens of AMWU volunteers targeted the marginal Coalition-held seats of Blue Mountains and Strathfield, with doorknocking, phoning and street stalls replicating the successful campaigns of 2014, which saw the Liberals dumped in a number of Hunter seats. Members kept the pressure up in the Hunter as well, making sure that
Putting NSW Jobs First: voters with our AMWU volunteers.
AMWU issues around jobs for the region were front and center in the minds of voters. As AMWU News goes to print, polling showed the Labor Opposition had hauled back the lead of the NSW Coalition to 53-47 per cent, with the Government showing signs of faltering.
union’s NSW Delegate Forum the offshoring was “absurd”. He committed to a Local Jobs First Policy of a 20 per cent price preference for local firms which tender for government projects, with 15 per cent of the jobs on those projects reserved for apprentices or trainees.
While Mr Baird campaigned hard on public transport projects, including the North West Rail Link, the AMWU exposed his betrayal of Hunter manufacturing workers by having 22 new trains built in India.
But delegates from Downer EDI and UGL in the Hunter region, which desperately need new work, called for specific dollar commitments on train building from whoever takes power, similar to those of the Victorian Andrews’ Government.
Labor Leader Luke Foley told our
The Coalition have strongly indicated
they will offshore a crucial $2.8 billion of work on a further 68 new trains for Sydney, which the AMWU wants to see built in NSW workshops. Mr Ayres said the election meant the NSW Labor movement had an obligation to come together and make sure that whoever won office would act in the best interest of AMWU members, their families and their jobs. “Governments are never perfect, and no matter who wins we need to make sure we’re right in the battle for the future of manufacturing in this country,” he told delegates.
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NEW MEMBERS GET WITH NUMBERS PACK PUNCH AT ZACPAC Workers at a Sydney print company which cried poor at the prospect of paying any wage rise have found their voice by doubling union membership to drive home an improved enterprise deal. The expanded AMWU membership at Zacpac has unanimously voted up a deal at the family-owned firm delivering two years worth of wage increases with improvements to conditions many thought out of reach early in 2014. Critical moment: members at Zacpac vote up the agreement their new union - the AMWU - helped them achieve.
Delegates said the workforce had discovered the power of solidarity during months of negotiations by increasing union density from 40 members to 85 at the last count, with more expected to jump on board. AMWU National Print Secretary Lorraine Cassin said when
(PAB) being prepared as the company continued to stall on pay rises. “Once we explained to management what a PAB meant for them, they came back with a much improved offer,” Ms Griggs said.
New found strength: new union members at Zacpac celebrate the agreement the AMWU helped them achieve.
officers visited the company’s Ingleburn works which prints packaging, company owners, the Zac family, claimed they couldn’t afford a zac for any pay increase.
stance galvanized and angered AMWU delegates, who joined NSW Print leaders Vanessa Seagrove and Belinda Griggs in recruiting new members.
“They came up with the excuse they’d spent money on training workers, $1600 on a damaged roller door and $2000 repainting the toilets because of graffiti,” she said.
“We signed up 15 at the first report back meeting, recruited two new delegates on afternoon shift and people really started to get active, find their voices and demand some fairness,” Ms Griggs said.
“But we also found they had hired dozens of extra staff in Sydney and opened a $25 million operation on the Gold Coast, so there was money when it came to expanding the business.” union
The workforce voted up a twoyear agreement with 5 per cent in pay rises, the first backdated to November. The clincher was the union expanding redundancy pay from a 13-week cap to unlimited, plus introduction of the AMWU domestic violence leave provision into the agreement.
The zero pay
Ms Griggs said it was uplifting to see the confidence of delegates Ron Cabrera, Koro Lemalu and Tai Matagitau grow with the membership, their industrial muscle expanding like never before. By October dozens of workers had joined the AMWU, with a Protected Industrial Action ballot
Delegate Tai Matagitau said it took “a lot of strong people” to show leadership, recruit and revitalise the union at Zacpac. “This year is a big year for us, we have to work together to build on the strength we have gained so that next time we’ll be able to push harder for better pay rises – this company is doing well,” he said. Lorraine Cassin said: “It’s a morale-boosting outcome, proving again that union membership empowers workers to make sure their employer gives proper due to their contribution to the business’s success.”
PRINT RUN OF NEW RECRUITS TOPS 100 Print delegates at one of News Limited’s largest national operations have been recognised for their outstanding effort in recruiting more than 100 new members over the past year.
AMWU Victorian State Secretary Steve Dargavel said their success was all the more admirable as they worked for a huge media corporate notorious for its negative views towards unions – in print and on the shopfloor.
The AMWU team at the Herald and Weekly Times have boosted morale to make the workforce confident and assertive at the Port Melbourne print plant which produces the daily Herald Sun and other Murdoch-owned newspapers.
The AMWU lost dozens of experienced members at HWT in 2012-13, including senior delegates who took redundancy when printing operations were scaled down due to falling newspaper circulation.
Jodie Wilson and Ray Cochrane were presented with merit certificates at an AMWU Victorian Council gathering, as members of that state’s Shop Committee of the Year. Also being awarded are Father of the Chapel Rick Davie, Michael Trapani, Warrick Spooner, David Garvin, Anthony O’Dwyer, Belinda Foley, Aaron Trask and Paul Bellerby.
Younger delegates, including Ms Wilson and Mr Trapani in the publishing room, had to step up. In 2014 the HWT unexpectedly began re-hiring due to changed production schedules and extra printing contracts, meaning about 20 new printers and 60 new publishing employees were needed. “We had lost a lot of strength and once they started re-hiring, I knew if we
didn’t get that strength back with new members we would get walked over,” said Mr Trapani. “We went flat out recruiting, I just made sure I got around to all the new employees and also the older casuals, who had never been part of the union. “There was no arm-twisting, I just persuaded them that having a new job was like having a new car, you wouldn’t drive it without insuring it. That’s the union. No AMWU member has ever been sacked in my time.” Ms Wilson said union extras including the journey accident insurance and ambulance benefit were important in clinching the membership of new unionists. They also recruited former Fairfax printers hired by HWT, but didn’t stop there.
Stepping up: Jodie Wilson and Ray Cobhrane with their AMWU merit certificates after all delegates at the Herald & Weekly Times print plant were recognised for their outstanding recruiting efforts.
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Our delegates signed up dozens of publishing room casuals who had always been treated as the poor relations at the HWT plant, many having worked there for over 10 years. “That divide was a real problem in the past but casuals suddenly felt welcome – we’re sticking together, looking after one another and the conditions for casuals will be a very high priority as we work through our next EBA,” Ms Wilson said.
H THE STRENGTH WINNING IN THE
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ST COOL AGREEMENT BREAKS WAGE DROUGHT A complaint about water coolers last summer has ended with better wages and clearer conditions flowing to the workers of a Perth welding shop who decided to join the AMWU. Callidus Welding Solutions only had a few AMWU members, one of whom rang us one blazingly hot Perth day to alert the union that management had taken away the water coolers. When organiser Gary Carozzi visited the site at Wangarra in Perth’s north, he found not only were the workers struggling for a cold drink, but that regular wage rises had dried up four years ago. “We sorted out their right to water coolers in about 10 minutes, so then they started believing in what we could do,” Mr Carozzi said. “We found that as a group they hadn’t had a guaranteed pay rise in four years, so when we talked about their concerns the majority decided to join up.” Callidus Welding Solutions handles welding of tanks, valves and other parts for off-shore oil rigs and equipment on mine sites. The union signed up 27 members out of the 30
Welding solution: workers at Callidus found being in the AMWU delivered them certain wage rises for the first time in for years.
permanent workers, which resulted in management sitting down with worker reps and our officials for the first time to make their first union agreement, covering four years. The result is a deal which includes pay rises of a minimum of 2.5 per cent and up to 3.5 per cent per year, depending on CPI, with rises in six-monthly increments. They now get a 20 per cent loading for any shift work and a 32.5 per cent loading if they have to do jobs offsite. There’s also big improvements in redundancy provisions, particularly for workers with over 10 years experience.
The agreement was backdated to July 2014, giving the workers a handy lump sum in backpay. AMWU State Secretary Steve McCartney said he felt proud for new AMWU members, standing up and learning how solidarity on the shop floor really delivers. “It proves that anyone in any workplace can use their collective power and union resources to improve their living standards,” he said. Mr Carozzi said the workers were still “pretty stoked” at gaining a fair agreement simply by looking after one another.
WINNING IN TH
WALKING INTO THE MATRIX WESTE The AMWU is transforming the working lives of employees at a major engineering plant in Perth who joined the union after being underpaid and having almost no wage rise for three years. We are bargaining a first-up union enterprise deal for the workforce at Matrix Composites and Engineering’s new site at Henderson, after first winning access to the site last March. Within a few months, organiser Ryan OU had recruited more than 70 of the 116 workers. They were dissatisfied at being paid a base $22 an hour whether they were welders, technicians or general workers.
recruited on insecure, month-tomonth contracts.
involvement in auditing health and safety at the plant.
Matrix initially tried to block the AMWU from accessing any area, but Mr OU gained access to the lunchroom under right-of-entry provisions of the Fair Work Act.
They are aiming at an 18 per cent pay rise across four years with extra backpay. Management want a deal which would still be a wage cut in real terms.
Matrix’s new plant at Henderson is the world’s largest manufacturer of sub-sea buoyancy systems for vessels and sea-going platforms in the oil and gas industry. Our State Secretary Steve McCartney said wage justice was overdue for these workers, a third being 457 Visa workers.
Management at the multinational company enjoyed salary rises above 13 per cent since 2011, while the workforce rate had barely improved.
“These workers have been exploited and once we gained access and spoke to them, they were frustrated at being insecure and underpaid – they wanted the union helping them,” he said.
There was a non-union enterprise agreement, but many workers were unaware it existed and instead were
Members are seeking stability from a union agreement, a proper job classification and pay structure, plus
A sign of the newfound AMWU solidarity among the workers came last December, when they formally voted down that offer. Mr OU said: “Now they feel like they have a voice to speak up for the first time.” Delegate Paul Sirett said overseas workers had welcomed the chance for some power at work. “Our people see being in the union as a way to be protected, we need the decent pay rises other sites get and members like the journey accident cover and income insurance – it’s a good deal for all of us,” he said.
Into the Matrix: AMWU delegates Gabriel Escoton (left) and Paul Sirett say that union membership has empowered their workmates.
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Have a good idea for what design should go on union merchandise? AMWU DESIGN COMPETITION
Fancy WHY NOT ENTER yourself a OUR COMPETITION! bit of an artist? We’re looking for the best original design from an AMWU member to put on a new batch of union merchandise – from stubby holders to stickers to keyrings or t-shirts.
You can use words, images or a combination. Remember that your design should appeal to a whole range of members! The best design will get professionally printed onto a new range of merchandise – and the winner and 2 mates will receive a free prize pack featuring their design! Send in your design to the AMWU Communications Team, at news@amwu.asn.au with subject line: Design Competition. Makes sure to give us your full name and contact details with your entry and tell us a bit about your design.
INSPIRING GLIMPSE OF BRIGHT FUTURE Early this year the AMWU’s Victorian Branch took a step towards the future by mentoring promising interns as part of a Vic Trades Hall Council program. But State Secretary Steve Dargavel didn’t settle for a few hopefuls – the candidates were so outstanding he hired nine. For three weeks these young activists, mostly university students from varied cultures that reflect our membership, gained a special insight into how a modern union works. Each was assigned to an organiser and saw how we recruit, organise and fight for members in manufacturing workplaces. We were fascinated to get their views, including those of media student Poppy Paraw: As interns, we each came to the AMWU with a different set of skills but all passionate about working in the union movement. I felt fortunate to be placed in a union that proved welcoming, caring and accepting. It was unique to experience the differing aspects of the AMWU. Initially, I was placed with Toby Paterson, in the Metals area. I went to various worksites with Toby - a cable manufacturer for the mining industry, AquaMax water tanks and a construction site at Monash University.
Summer welcome: (L:R) Craig Kelly (AMWU Vic. Assistant Secretary.),Terry Tun, Natasha Castro,Jennifer Pham, Poppy Paraw, Shannon Basil Byrne, Lu Xu, Kate Nguyen, Simon Frankland, Hong Trinhand Steve Dargavel (AMWU Victorian State Secretary.)
I was also pleased to see much cross-union co-operation as some workplaces fall into more than one industry. Most importantly, there was a strong sense of comaraderie between the unions. As my background and skills are in media, one highlight was a visit to the Herald and Weekly Times printing plant in Westgate Park. I was welcomed there to see another aspect of the newspaper industry. The members at News Corp are in the midst of negotiating a new workplace agreement. Upon meeting them, I saw the hard work
and pride in manufacturing these papers, including the state’s largest-selling daily. This internship felt very personal. I come from an almost unique ethnic background for Melbourne - Burmese. I don’t know many Burmese people here so it was rewarding to work alongside my fellow intern Terry Tun, and to interact with the migrant Burmese workers. I also learned about the legal aspects of working in a union from the industrial officers, who also gave us materials for our group project on labour hire workers. I gained more from the AMWU than I ever imagined. I saw the dedication and hard work of organisers every day. Working in the union is more than just a day job; it’s a job helping people which connects to your personal life and passions. I’m hoping, one day, there might be a place in the AMWU for me.
Poppy Paraw with some of our members who are also of Burmese origin, at Aquamax in Melbourne.
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Book Review: NORTHERN LIGHTS Beyond furniture, ‘arthouse’ movies and Abba, by the mid-1970s the enlightened social and economic policies of Scandanavian social democracies were admired worldwide. Andrew Scott’s new book recalls how the AMWU, particularly through Laurie Carmichael, was at the forefront of looking at adapting industrial democracy, Swedish-style.
You might not embrace ‘70s-style big hair, tie-die and garish colours but one welcome comeback with plenty to offer Australia is Nordic inspiration.
can inspire us with working models in worker retraining, natural resources wealth, education and childcare. The contrasts are instructive, if painful. Teaching in Finland is a highly-prized occupation in a free, comprehensive government system delivering worldleading results for children since a 90s Gonski-style shake-up.
Scott takes an overdue look at how, after decades of neo-liberal market thinking, Australia should again gaze north to Sweden, Norway, Denmark and also Finland.
Sweden has double Australia’s proportion of mothers in full-time work, partly from outspending us fourfold per capita on early childhood education and care.
The Deakin University professor details how these nations have sustained a much fairer spread of prosperity than other western nations in an economically and environmentally responsible way.
Our car industry members may likely envy the national consensus on effective re-training in Denmark, known as ‘flexicurity’, which begins long before anyone can be called redundant.
Nordic populations – including business, government and workforce – think differently in prioritising their personal responsibility to a wider society along with making big bucks for personal gain.
The dole is not a punitive payment but a living wage so workers can hunt new jobs, with re-training and upskilling paid for by insurance schemes which all employees and businesses contribute to.
Higher taxes sustaining rigorous, high-quality government programs are accepted.
Unions oversee these funds, amounting to 8 times what we spend, but the Danes believe they’ve largely solved structural unemployment.
Scott zeroes in on how the four nations
Norway has funded it’s high-cost, high-return solutions, including new infrastructure, by effectively taxing multinationals 50 per cent on North Sea oil since the 1970s. It’s leaders didn’t blink at multinational corporate threats, channelling decades of tax revenues into a $800 billion soverign wealth fund. Think of how it could have been different for Australia’s resources revenue over the past 15 years. The Nordic Northern Lights radiate a stormy solar glow, but on earth point to rational progress through egalitarian fairness. The AMWU is giving away 20 copies of Northern Lights. Please email news@amwu.asn.au with your name, home address and membership number or mail to AMWU News, 2nd floor, 251 Queensberry St, Carlton South, Victoria 3053. All entries will go into a lottery draw to determine the winners.
UNION NEWS IN BRIEF McCAIN’S HOLIDAY TURKEY Talks on a new agreement at McCain in Tasmania are underway despite a move by the company causing unnecessary worry about job security over the summer holiday until the AMWU stepped in. About 60 union members had their festive celebrations dampened by a letter sent to their homes from McCain’s management just before the New Year, confirming a change to 12-hour rosters, which had been agreed with the AMWU. But that wasn’t all it did. The letter took the form of a quasiemployment contract, with recipients asked to sign on to the new roster until June 2015 as an end date to their employment at the Smithton plant, warning them there was no guarantee they would have jobs after that. AMWU Tasmanian State President Shane Littler said it was an outrageous and illegal try-on as their employment was fully covered by their existing union agreement. Mr Littler and McCain’s union delegates immediately had the matter resolved in the Fair Work Commission. After the hearing the company came back to the table and agreed to re-draft the letter, sticking strictly to the facts on the new rosters.
TOYOTA MEMBERS BACK FINAL DEAL More than 90 per cent of Toyota workers nationally have voted to approve two final enterprise agreements for manufacturing and warehousing, giving certainty and outstanding packages to members when the carmaker departs in 2017. AMWU National Vehicle Division Secretary Dave Smith said he was confident the union had secured the chance for over 2000 members to plan and train for their employment future.
“Now that the union has secured certainty over the closure arrangements, we will be putting all our efforts into working with governments and industry to create alternative jobs,” he said. “Jobs mean everything to our members and we won’t let them down.” THE TOYOTA AGREEMENT INCLUDES – • A $1000 sign-on bonus with 3 per cent pay rises per year to 2017 • Four weeks paid notice upon closure, plus an extra week for workers over 45 • Four weeks severance pay per year capped at 90 weeks plus one week, uncapped • 75 per cent of unused sick leave paid out
Strong brew: AMWU members at Air Liquide in Adelaide won`t sell their tea break.
AIR LIQUIDE’S TEA BREAK TANTRUM FULL OF HOT AIR A small but determined group of members at South Australia’s main supplier of cylinder gas are fighting an employer bid to fund a wage rise by scrapping their afternoon tea break. Nine members at multinational gas giant Air Liquide have taken protected industrial action to retain adequate breaks, essential in hazardous
work filling the cylinders with oxygen, nitrogen, argon, CO2, and acetylene. Delegate Joe Pelin said 10-minute breaks in the morning and afternoon for a cuppa were vital for Occupational Health and Safety, as the job often involved intense concentration in doing different tasks simultaneously. But management have disregarded shop floorinstigated reforms, instead demanding that most of a pay
rise of 2.75 per cent in the first year be paid for with the tea break. “Many of us have been here over 20 years and this is the first industrial action we’ve taken. It’s a matter of safety,” Mr Pelin said. The workers are prepared to look at reconfiguring their work day to reduce work periods from four back to three, without losing paid break time or their wage rise.
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C O N TA C T S
DELEGATE PROFILE
AMWU National Office Location: Level 4,133 Parramatta Road, Granville Postal: PO Box 160, Granville, NSW 2142 (02) 8868 1500 2nd Floor, 251 Queensberry St, Carlton South, VIC 3053 (03) 9230 5700 NSW Branch Location: Level 1, 133 Parramatta Road, Granville Postal: PO Box 167, Granville, NSW 2142 (02) 9897 4200 Albury/Wodonga (02) 6024 1099 Newcastle (02) 4954 3215 Western Region (02) 6337 7162 Wollongong (02) 4229 7611 VIC Branch 1st Floor, 251 Queensberry St, Carlton South, VIC 3053 (03) 9230 5700 Albury/Wodonga (02) 6024 1099 Ballarat (03) 5332 2910 Bendigo (03) 5442 5101 Dandenong (03) 9701 3044 Geelong (03) 5229 9358 Latrobe (03) 5134 3306 Portland (03) 5523 2525 Shepparton (03) 5822 2510
ROD GRAHAM NORSKE SKOG, TASMANIA
QLD Branch Location: 366 Upper Roma Street, Brisbane Postal: PO Box 13006 George Street, QLD 4003 (07) 3236 2550 Gladstone (07) 4972 5319 Mackay (07) 4953 0550 Rockhampton (07) 4927 1487 Townsville (07) 4771 5960
The Boyer Mill is one of the largest employers in southern Tasmania, with 280 workers producing newsprint rolls for newspapers and coated paper for catalogues. Our Mill runs 24/7, with sister plants in Albury NSW and in New Zealand.
SA Branch 1st Floor 229 Greenhill Road, Dulwich, Postal: GPO BOX 1051, Adelaide SA 5001 (08) 8366 5800 Whyalla (08) 8645 7115
I’ve worked at Boyer for 25 years and my father and grandfather each had 30 years service. My grandfather was a staunch union delegate and he helped write our first collective agreement 75 years ago.
WA Branch 121 Royal Street, East Perth, WA 6004 (08) 9223 0800 Bunbury (08) 9721 7933 Henderson (08) 6498 9382 Karratha (08) 9185 4078 TAS Branch 28 Station Street, Moonah, TAS 7009 (03) 6228 7099 Burnie (03) 6431 1344 ACT Office Canberra
I’m a Maintenance Fitter, working for the past two years as a Roll Grinderman. I operate a Churchill and Craven Grinder with my mate Peter Parsons, grinding huge cylinder rolls to incredibly fine tolerances so they fit the machinery that is rolling out the paper.
In the mid 1990s, my brother was treated badly by his employer and I asked our organiser Steve Walsh to help him. In return, I decided to step up and become a delegate. By the early 2000s I was asked to not only look after our mechanical guys, but also our production workforce and staff members. I became Father of the Chapel. We all have to try to look after each other and look after people who are vulnerable. I’m involved with our local policecommunity youth club. I believe getting involved in the union is the only way that our members’ best interests can be achieved and maintained and that’s why I became a member of AMWU State Council and now I’m Vice President. The newsprint industry is in gradual retraction across
Australia, so we have to learn to adapt and change as we diversify into growing markets like coated paper. Our members find this very hard at times. A new EA will be negotiated at the end of 2015. This will be very tough for us all, balancing what we’d ideally like with keeping the mill viable. Unlike most companies, we have an ‘open door’ with our General Manager and we talk about ALL issues that affect the future of the Boyer Mill. Sitting down and talking out issues can be hard, but it’s essential. It requires good delegates, approachable for all members, but who can also mix it with management. Facing up to union members in difficult times is hard work and you have to be honest about what’s achievable.
(02) 6273 2412
NT Office 1st Floor, 38 Woods Street, Darwin, NT 0800 (08) 8941 1511 www.amwu.org.au email: amwu@amwu.asn.au
Made in Australia by AMWU members