Amwu news summer 15

SUMMER 2015

AMWU

NEWS

AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION

INSIDE UNION EFFORT DELIVERS IN VICTORIAN ELECTION MINISTER CONDEMNED COLORPAK CRACK UNDER UNION PRESSURE

2

A Year of Union Wins As befits the summer holiday period, this Journal is chock full of union wins worth celebrating.

As members we can all feel proud of what we have achieved by working collectively over the last 12 months – with great wins in the workplace, strong outcomes in our political work and fantastic community activism around the country.

A terrific outcome in the Victorian state election was the clearest example of how union members getting active in the community can improve our society. The Victorian branch and all Victorian members should feel proud of the role they played – campaigning on jobs as part of the AMWU campaign and also joining in with the great ‘We Are Union’ campaign run by the Victorian Trades Hall Council.

Members have also racked up great results in the Federal Parliament – standing up and pushing back against the negative agenda of the Abbott Government.

Our union was successful in stopping proposed changes to the Fair Entitlement Guarantee System, working with our friends from the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union to convince Senators to block the legislation – which they did.

Together we also stopped cuts to the Automotive Transformation Scheme – a crucial assistance package to help auto industry workers retrain and to help the industry restructure.

Our shipbuilding campaign has continued apace, with pressure on the Parliament and community activism. Great work by the many members involved in this campaign has seen many new

DELEGATE FORUM DATES Please mark these dates in your diary and make your leave arrangements so you are free to attend.

Venues and starting times will be confirmed closer to the date.

South Australia............. 25 February Queensland.................. 9 March Western Australia........ 26 February New South Wales........ 10 March Tasmania........................ 4 March Victoria.......................... 25 March

members at shipbuilding sites and new activists stepping up to take a leading role.

So many members have stood together to get great workplace outcomes this year, but I’ll make two special mentions - first to our Colorpak members and our Print Division. Colorpak is wellknown as a belligerent employer, but by working together and staying strong – and uniting internationally with our friends at Colorpak New Zealand – members have won an outstanding result and a great industrial agreement.

They have also signed up a host of new members, growing our union for the future.

I also pay tribute to our Food and Confectionery Division in Tasmania and NSW, as members have stood strong and won good outcomes at Simplot and at Cadbury. Simplot’s CEO Terry O’Brien – a past champion of WorkChoices – tried to intimidate members by riling up local conservative politicians. But members stood firm and united and won some great results.

Congratulations to every member for the work you have done and the contribution you have made to our union.

AMWU NEWS SUMMER 2015

LOSES PADDLE 4 MINISTER

publication of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, (registered AFMEPKIU) National Office, 133 Parramatta Road, Granville, NSW, 2142.

Editor: Paul Bastian AMWU Communications Team:

5

VIC POLL VICTORY

AMWU News is the official

BREAK TORPEDO 5 TEA

Tamsin Lloyd, Neil Wilson and Andrea Firehock.

Design: dcmc Design,

Feature-TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

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

CAR DEALS 8 FINAL SIMPLOT BATTLE

9

COLORPAK CRACK

6

10

FIGHTS 11 Book-THE OF MY LIFE Paul Bastian AMWU National Secretary

CLINTON COLE 12 DelegateMade in Australia by AMWU members

3

Minister up ship creek

No confidence: workers at ASC Adelaide passed a vote condemning the Defence Minister David Johnston after his insulting ‘canoe’ comments in Parliament.

AMWU members have demanded Defence Minister David Johnston be sacked or resign due to his negligent failure to take action over the ‘valley of death’ which this year threatens a third of Australian shipbuilding jobs.

Rallies and marches of angry members from the Australian Submarine Corporation in Adelaide and Perth last month showed they had lost all confidence in Senator Johnston, who insulted them in Parliament with his bizarre claim that ASC “couldn’t build a canoe.”

Perth ASC members carried a canoe to Senator Johnston’s office – without a paddle.

“When I go home to my family and this guy is telling me I’m useless - I don’t feel useless and that’s pretty gutting to 3000 workers in South Australia and Western Australia,” said Adelaide ASC delegate Andy Daniels.

“It’s not a great feeling to have your Defence Minister, you’re out there doing your best job for the country and he’s trashing you.”

The Minister has been under intense fire from all sides – including fellow Liberal MPs – over his handling of the $8.5 billion Air Warfare Destroyer program and his refusal to back up his election promise that the $20 billion future submarine fleet will be built in Adelaide.

Within a few days of his ‘canoe’ outburst, it was reported that Minister Johnston had been sitting for months on urgent reforms to ASC management recommended in the expert White-Winter report, which

explored delays and cost overruns on the destroyer project.

Despite his ‘canoe’ comment about ASC, the Minister has decided to largely leave the existing management in place, ignoring the report’s recommendations to allow outside experts from BAE systems to take the project over.

AMWU National Secretary Glenn Thompson said the potential loss of 2000 jobs this year was due to the minister’s five-month delay in ensuring a consultant team from BAE Systems be brought on board at ASC to better co-ordinate the troubled Air Warfare Destroyer program.

More than 1000 jobs could be lost at BAE Industries’ Williamstown shipyards in Melbourne and 780 at Forgacs in Newcastle in NSW when work finishes on block construction for the three AWDs. Mr Thompson slammed the minister’s “bumbling

inaction.”

“He must resign unless he takes immediate action on what his expert report, the AMWU and the

shipbuilding industry keep telling him – we need a rolling build of naval combat ships in Adelaide and other shipyards and we need commitment now.”

Mr Thompson said this couldn’t be separated from the Abbott Government’s refusal to commit to a fair, competitive tender process among the ASC and German, Swedish and French

bidders for the $20 billion future submarine project.

The Prime Minister strongly favours handing the project directly to Japan.

Two AMWU delegations to Canberra and appearances before the Senate Committee inquiry into shipbuilding have succeeded in winning crossbench Senate support for a competitive tender, including from Senator Jacqui Lambie and the Palmer United Party.

SA Liberals, including committee deputy chair Senator Sean Edwards, have been won over to a submarine tender process after hearing from military and industry experts that a local build is imperative for Australia’s defence and 27,000 jobs in South Australia.

Adelaide ASC members marched on the offices of senior Liberal MPs Christopher Pyne and Jamie Briggs demanding they join other conservatives in defending the state’s defence industry.

Without a paddle: members from ASC and AMWU officials raise a ‘canoe’ (kayak) high outside the Defence Minister’s Perth office.

STEVE’S LEAD LEAVES COUNCIL WORKERS PUMPED AMWU members in Cairns maintaining sewer equipment have come up with a big win set to flow on to maintenance employees for councils across Queensland.

Regional Council, as it is for many other maintenance workers in Queensland.

Steve, who is also the supervisor of the works crew of 13,

The council workers were facing a reduction in their award safety net under the Newman Government’s proposals to slash their allowances as part of changes to their Award.

simplot members show true grit

P.9 4

But delegate Steve Robertson, who had years of getting his hands dirty as a fitter working in water and sewerage sub stations, knew he had to take a stand against attempts by the Local Government Association to dramatically cut back the live sewer allowance for maintenance workers.

The time and a half allowance is a key part of the take-home pay for his crew at Cairns

Job well done: AMWU delegate Steve Robertson put together a winning case for Queensland local government crews.

understood they spent more time keeping the sewerage treatment plants and pumping stations working in the growing regional city than any other maintenance task, particularly during the wet season.

“It’s important work because it is all about public health, but it’s also not too pleasant,” he said.

“To lose that allowance would have a big impact on maintenance workers’ take-home pay, a big impact on our ability to provide for our families.”

Steve provided the AMWU with all the statistical and photographic evidence we needed to argue a strong case for retaining the live sewerage allowance as 39 council awards were melded into one modern award.

The data and report Steve prepared was so precise that he agreed to swear an affidavit as to

its accuracy. It showed the true worth of the work and why the allowance should be retained.

Queensland’s Industrial Relations Commission didn’t argue – and the allowance was saved.

AMWU Queensland State Secretary Rohan Webb paid tribute to Steve Robertson for his diligence in standing up for his members, signing an AMWU merit certificate which was presented in Cairns.

“The Newman Government has been in an indecent haste to consolidate awards and has victimised a lot of workers but Steve’s dedicated, thorough work resulted in this important allowance being maintained for workers across Queensland,” he said.

WORKERS AND UNIONS VINDICATED IN VICTORIA New Victorian Labor Premier Dan Andrews summed it up when claiming victory.

Premier Daniel Andrews giving AMWU members at Alstom the good news that $350 million will be spent on new trains

Congratulations to our Victorian activists for their enormous effort in the state’s historic election campaign late last year.

Activists worked on both a union campaign around jobs and joining the Vic Trades Hall ‘We Are Union’ Community Campaign. Union activities in the community were a huge factor in the decisive change of government.

The success of the AMWU’s Victorian election campaigning around jobs, local procurement and TAFE is cause for optimism and can also be readily adapted to the coming NSW and Queensland elections, then the 2016 Federal Election.

AMWU National Secretary Paul Bastian said the direct community campaigning from our members on jobs and training helped keep jobs at the front of election issues.

The success of the Victorian Trades Hall Council unions in targeting key marginal electorates and undecided voters proved

the decisive factor in Victoria.

“Hundreds of AMWU members worked hard to defeat the Liberals – knocking on doors, campaigning in the community, calling other union members and helping on polling day,” Mr Bastian said.

“The Victorian result gives us hope that we will see out the Abbott Government after one term – we must keep up the pressure.”

Voter concern over state issues such as TAFE cuts and emergency services was inflamed by anger towards the Abbott Government’s draconian Budget, its role in the loss of car-making and refusal to support fruit processor SPC. Victorian State Secretary Steve Dargavel thanked members for their efforts in making the Napthine Coalition the first one-term government in Victoria in nearly 60 years.

“The conservative forces spent up big and tried to vilify unions -- but they couldn’t match the passion, commitment or numbers of our people in the community and

they never will,” Mr Dargavel said.

The 3-4 per cent swing against the government was a stunning repudiation of its TV and print advertising, which tried to demonise Labor’s links with unions, an outmoded scare tactic which fell flat with voters.

Over 2000 Trades Hall Council volunteers spent months blitzing four key marginal seats hit by manufacturing job losses and TAFE cutbacks in southern Melbourne – all are set to be Liberal losses.

Mr Dargavel also heaped praise on AMWU regional members in Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Belllarine for taking the initiative in campaigning on manufacturing jobs in rail, food and steel fabrication industries, which proved decisive.

In Shepparton, AMWU activists helped turn community anger at the Abbott Government’s refusal to help save SPC into a shock 34 per cent swing which lost the National Party a heartland seat.

There are people who wanted this election to be about workers and unions... and that’s exactly what it was.

Feature: Taking it to the Streets

P.6-7

BID TO BUST TEA BREAK TORPEDOED Tea and solidarity have made a strong brew for union members at HMAS Stirling in thwarting a management plan to take away their afternoon break.

Technicians at the base’s torpedo maintenance facility felt they were being put in the firing line unfairly when local Perth management decided in July to change the working hours for the area’s 75 workers without any proper consultation.

Management claimed it would improve productivity if everyone agreed to either scrap the 15-minute afternoon tea break or, if they wanted to keep it, work an extra hour daily and have a strictly regimented nine-day fortnight.

AMWU members whose specialist jobs are to maintain torpedoes for the navy’s submarines and ships didn’t need a periscope to see this dud choice was aimed at them.

The 25 technicians work in a high-security, windowless ordnance workshop, which effectively means they are the only workers in the

facility unable to grab a quick drink or refreshment when needed.

“It’s an explosive ordnance area so there’s no food or drink allowed, your only chance to refresh yourself is your set breaks and we’re the minority who really need them,” said AMWU delegate Mark Thomas.

“For us it’s a Workplace Health and Safety issue but the Director refused to consider the impact on the technicians. He told us we’d have to vote on either of his two options. Our members met and had their own vote – to refuse to take part.”

Below the surface, members also suspected that accepting every second Friday off would hand management the power to diminish everyone’s right under their existing agreement to take flex time.

That flexibility is vital to helping members balance their work and family lives.

AMWU organiser Mich Murphy took the dispute to Canberra, informing the Defence

Materiel Organisation HR that local management at HMAS Stirling had not consulted in changing local arrangements, in breach of the Defence Enterprise Collective Agreement.

The members, whose input had not been taken on board by local management, then suggested simply bringing their lunch and tea breaks forwards by 15 minutes, allowing a clear hour of work before knock-off time at 2.45pm.

“We stuck to our guns and Canberra came back thanking us for coming to an agreement which advanced our needs and that of the management – they’d basically agreed to our suggested time change,” Mr Thomas said.

“It was a good outcome, a pleasant surprise and a bit of a lesson for local management to treat the workforce with respect rather

than just dictating orders like we’re in the military.”

The episode has again proven the value of the union to potential members, with the icing on the cake being two new recruits and others likely to sign up.

On target: AMWU members Mark Thomas, Tim Chugg, Jason Thorne and Barry Mason enjoy a hard-won cuppa.

5

TAKING IT

The AMWU has be campaigning over t Members have stepped up and stepped out to talk about jobs, local content and the costs of privatisation to the people who really matter – local communities across Australia.

Dargavel etary, Steve c State Secr Vi rs ee nt ion volu Inspiring un

Save our power assets Mackay, QLD

Engaging directly with the community as we fight to save jobs and industries is natural, because with 2 million union members across Australia, plus millions more family and friends, we ARE the community.

In elections in Victoria, South Australia, the NSW Hunter, Brisbane and the Northern Territory AMWU members have been out in the streets to spread our message.

It’s not about spruiking for a specific party; it’s encouraging people to think about jobs and industry before they vote.

AMWU volunteers have been on the phones, at the shops, at the sports grounds, in the streets and on social media sharing our message.

Marching for manufact uring - AMWU members , the Hunter

It’s a natural flow on from the continuing ‘Design, Build and Maintain our Ships Here’ campaign and the NSW-Victoria ‘Build Them Here’ campaigns, and we’ll be encouraging more of our members to get involved in 2015.

A Sunday doorknock of marginal electorates in Victoria four weeks before their election started out more like a revival meeting.

g Doorknockin ria icto - Highett, V

ACTU Secretary (and former AMWU National Secretary) Dave Oliver told volunteers that the spirit and tactics of the ‘Your Rights At Work’ campaign, so successful at the 2007 Federal Election, has been re-born with the extra smarts of social media.

“We’re back to doing what we do best, mobilising, getting people out in the field,” he said.

“We’re growing and building a powerful movement that will make a real difference to people, all over the country.”

Out among swinging voters, the reaction was an affirming breath of fresh air.

nny MP, pledge - Bronwyn Halfpe Committed to our jobs

The community is receptive to our message that government should buy local and employ locals when they spend on infrastructure projects, and about the need to invest in education and training, especially TAFE.

Vic

Signing t he - Newcas petition tle, NSW 6

And around the country, members campaigning in the community have huge wins to celebrate.

TO THE STREETS

een ticking all the right boxes with our grassroots the past year and there’s more to come.

VICTORIA – UNIONS TOPPLE FIRST TERM LIBERAL GOVERNMENT A nine-month community-based ‘We Are Union’ campaign by the AMWU Victorian Branch with other Trades Hall Council affiliates succeeded in making jobs and TAFE topline issues.

The grassroots effort by over 2000 unionists left the Napthine Coalition stunned, frustrated, angry – and defeated in every seat we campaigned in.

AMWU pressure on local steel fabrication, adequate TAFE funding and the need to make trains and trams locally, prompted major policy announcements by Labor and the Coalition on those issues.

Members helped target marginal seats around Victoria.

The effort was strategic, grassroots – and fun.

The Victorian campaign ended with 2191 volunteers knocking on 93,000 doors.

AMWU members teamed up with ambulance workers, firefighters, nurses and teachers in talking with the community.

They convinced 30,000 people to sign pledges calling for more jobs and better health and emergency services.

In October, our members helped set a new record for Australian doorknocking – 15,000 homes in one day!

“We didn’t try to tell anyone how to vote,” said AMWU member Sunil George.

“It was just about asking residents to think about what’s been happening to jobs in Victoria, tens of thousands lost.”

The father of two turned out for his kids’ futures.

“It’s tough to knock at the first house, but once we got into it, there were good results.

The majority were worried about cuts to education, it was tough for families and tough too for pensioners.”

By spring, the union was alerting voters to their taxes being ‘railroaded’ by the Victorian Government, this time preparing to send 25 new trains worth $376 million for an overseas build.

Members from Alstom in Ballarat and United in Bendigo spent their mornings on station platforms

handing out over 15,000 leaflets to Melbourne-bound commuters.

Weekend community campaigning backed the message in.

Candidates in three key electorates around Ballarat were invited to an AMWU rally outside Alstom, where, before local media, our members asked them to sign on to the union’s Pledge to support skilled manufacturing jobs.

The Pledge put the heat directly on candidates.

Weeks out from polling day, both major parties unveiled major rolling stock programs, each raising the local build level from 30 per cent to beyond 50 per cent.

A desperate Premier Napthine committed to local content exceeding 80 per cent on future state projects.

It was too late for him, but it’s a benchmark the AMWU expects the new Labor Government to strive for.

NSW HUNTER – ACTIVISTS FIGHT FOR LOCAL JOBS AND BETTER REPRESENTATION Members have been active nearly every weekend for the past eight months, as we await crucial NSW Government decisions on the building of new trains, harbour ferries and ships.

With unemployment hovering at 8 per cent, the March election is vital.

A core of 20 co-ordinating activists have drawn in workmates to help staff stalls, hand out leaflets at big events and get locals to sign up to the campaign.

On a single winter’s day, they gained 2600 signatures on the ‘Build Them Here’ petition, which ended by going to the NSW Parliament with 12,000 signatures.

Under NSW Parliament rules, it then forced a debate on the issue in the

Parliament.

In addition, the social media campaign has reached more than 20,000 in the community.

“The community engagement has been great,” said Assistant State Secretary Steve Murphy. “People know the challenges we all share on trains and shipbuilding and they’re concerned so they’ve been really supportive.”

AMWU teams were also active in Newcastle’s Mattara Festival and Foreshore Festival in early October.

Younger members have forged links with the Newcastle University Student Association, mixing with uni patrons at the Bar On The Hill and speaking on African and Mexicanthemed meal days on campus.

A key strategy in the state by-elections in Newcastle and Charlestown, brought on by the resignation of Liberal MPs over corruption issues, was to hold all candidates to account on their attitude to local content for government procurement.

As in Victoria, each was asked to sign the ‘Jobs First’ petition, with AMWU members doorknocking both electorates.

AMWU train delegate at Downer EDI, Shaun Goss, said Labor won those by-elections but he found many people had been turned off by party politics in NSW. “Labor or Liberal, people here are worried about the basics of safe work and local jobs,” Mr Goss said.

“Independents got behind us, that’s good in showing what we’re saying is getting through.

“Now the job is to generate that concern across Sydney too.”

Shoppers sign-up - Newcastle, NSW

QLD-NT -FIGHT BACK AGAINST PRIVATISATION PLANS Utility privatisation is hitting householders hard across northern Australia.

The ‘Not 4 Sale’ campaign run by the combined industry unions is uniting the community prior to a Queensland state election due early in 2015.

“There is a huge community backlash against power sell off, or leasing out poles and wires for decades to come – people’s electricity bills have already jumped by a third under the Newman Government,” said AMWU State secretary Rohan Webb.

“We can be a lightening rod for that community concern.”

The AMWU is planning to build on the success of 2014’s Redcliffe and Stafford by-elections, where grassroots union campaigning saw swings of up to 19 per cent and the loss of the two Newman LiberalNational Government seats.

Phone appeals to our membership to help on the campaign worked well, with unionists giving up their weekends and evenings to doorknock, sit on stalls at Redcliffe’s markets and hand out leaflets in shopping centres.

The AMWU will again hit the phones in marginal electorates in the run-up to the state poll.

AMWU members have been in Darwin’s streets too, as the Country Liberal Government sells off the Territory Insurance Office and splits the PowerWaterCorp into three entities in preparation for sale.

The ‘Not 4 Sale’ campaign in Darwin has united 80 AMWU members at PowerWater with groups as diverse as the Panel Beaters Association.

In two by-elections across 2014, the issue was a huge factor in achieving swings around 10 percent against the Government.

“We campaigned hard on this issue, we were out in the shops, leafleting every weekend so PowerWater wouldn’t be sold,” said AMWU delegate Ron Kirk.

Doorknocking - Bellarine, Victoria

“When politicians see how many people across the community are part of the union community network, they take notice.”

7

SPEAKING UP AND KNOWING THE RULES BACKWARD – BRILLIANT!

Speaking up: Our delegates and officials who attended the workship in Melbourne.

If you’re going to help set the agenda then first you have to know the rules of the game.

Making sure our women members make their voices heard effectively in shaping and implementing AMWU action was the thrust behind our first Women’s Leadership Development course.

Our union’s National Education Unit in Melbourne hosted 15 dedicated AMWU rank and file women who either already

HOLDEN AND FORD FINAL DEALS HELP MEMBERS LOOK TO NEW FUTURES

8

sit on decision-making bodies or may do so in future.

There was guidance over three days on the technical rules for participating in AWMU forums such as national, state or regional councils, and also advice on persuasively putting your case to transform policy discussion into dynamic action.

Everyone embraced the wisdom of guest Ann Byrne, an Oxfam board member who also has wide experience in the superannuation industry.

She gave participants some wise advice, telling them to sit close to the person speaking at any meeting, lean in to listen, always ask at least one question and: “Just remember – you’re brilliant!”

AMWU members at Holden and Ford have strongly backed fresh union agreements which deliver security on wages and solid departure packages so car workers can better plan their futures.

Car workers in South Australia and Victoria voted overwhelmingly to approve the new, final agreements, which include re-training provisions into 2016 for Ford and 2018 for Holden.

Each of the carmakers have signed on to deliver wage rises of around 3 per cent per year, which will carry through and be paid to the agreements’ end dates even if production were to be wound down earlier.

“The industry is in transition, and nothing can fully compensate for losing it, but these agreements give our members the best possible financial certainty and opportunity to prepare for their futures,” said AMWU National Assistant Secretary (Vehicle) Warren Butler.

National Councilor Margaret Hay said that despite her years of experience, this pilot course gave her extra insight into the technical way AMWU decision -making bodies worked.

“It’s a good way to help our people coming up in the union,

We don’t want anyone... sitting on the outside.

This comes as the union celebrates a win in Canberra – with the Abbott Government’s attempts to water down the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS) set to fail to pass the Senate.

Labor, independent, PUP and Greens Senators are expected to vote down $900 million in Coalition cuts to the ATS which Mr Smith labeled ‘industrial sabotage’ against workers and their families.

Our union also welcomed a detailed inquiry into the industry to be run by the Senate Economic References Committee.

National Secretary (Vehicle) Dave Smith said making sure the impact of the closures were minimised and opportunities for growth maximised should be a key part of the inquiry.

The Holden agreement affecting about 2000 workers in the two states was voted up after South Australian Secretary John Camillo addressed three mass meetings at Elizabeth.

Management also agreed on a process to minimise involuntary redundancies before 2018.

“Members need time for re-training, which they will get, and from next year, an adjusted departure package will also

it’s important our women know the way to make their voices heard,” she said.

“We don’t want anyone at any level sitting on the outside and not speaking up.”

South Australian delegate Claire Strudwick said: “Speaking up gets easier the more you do it. It’s not just a belief in yourself that helps, but the belief in the issue you’re talking about and fighting for.”

AMWU Education Unit Coordinator George Koletsis praised the group’s talent and creativity in public speaking, and decision-making.

“We want to ensure women are confidently pro-active in the union’s governing bodies, which should then flow on to more women being engaged fully in developing and implementing policy in our union and becoming more active in workplaces,” he said.

be available for those who have lined up another job or have studies and wish to leave earlier,” Mr Butler said.

Holden also committed $15 million to a new work transition and training centre in Adelaide, which will operate with Job Services Australia and be available to workers as they need.

At Ford, all existing conditions will remain secure as part of a new agreement brought forward from 2015. It includes annual increases of 2.9 per cent and the social plan already approved for transition skills to future jobs.

It covers about 1000 car production workers whose work will finish in 2016 but also those members in the ongoing Ford operations of warehousing and product development.

“The agreement delivers certainty because if Ford were to decide within six months before its October 2016 deadline to cease car production, the members’ wages will be paid out - with the increases,” said Vehicle Division Victorian Secretary Paul Difelice.

“Auto workers need all the help they can get with retraining and real alternative jobs– that’s what we’re focusing on.”

MOURA MEMBERS PITCH IN FOR KIDS’ SOCCER

AMWU Moura branch convenor Peter Hammond (left) presents the ‘giant cheque’ to Moura Rangers Football Club President Sam Theodore and junior players.

PLENTY of goals will continue to be scored by the kids off the perfect playing pitches at Moura Rangers Football Club in Queensland thanks to AMWU members.

The local union branch, made up of 90 members at the Dawson coal mine, came to the rescue when the junior soccer club’s storage sheds were destroyed mid-year by a falling tree branch, leaving nowhere safe to put their mowers and line marking equipment.

The AMWU branch members are dedicated to regularly putting their hands in their pocket to help worthy local causes, but the soccer club was special as some of our members

have children among the 40 juniors playing in teams.

“There was already a slab there where the sheds had been and they wanted to get something done before it was broken into or the weather did damage,” said AMWU convenor Peter Hammond.

“We thought this was a special case which deserved a special effort.”

AMWU member and soccer club vice-president Theo Karakyriacos said parents were chuffed when the AMWU members voted to donate $4100 to buy a new, lockable and secure shipping container.

He said more than $10,000 worth of equipment was stored in the old, unlocked sheds and there were security concerns as the club’s canteen was

broken into at least once.

“We just had a couple of old garden sheds and the branch smashed through the roof. I asked Peter Hammond if the union could help and the members voted it up, so the club really appreciates what the AMWU has done,” he said.

It is far from the only community effort by the members at Moura, despite their numbers having been more than halved in the past year with redundancies at the Bowen Basin mine.

They also gave $1000 to the town swimming club for new lap timing equipment, they regularly allocate a few hundred dollars to give to local causes and this year donated $2000 in prizes to a fishing competition on the Dawson River in aid of women’s cancer research.

SIMPLOT MEMBERS

HANG TOUGH FOOD industry members in Tasmania and NSW have shown true grit in forcing a major backdown from Simplot after a protracted and public struggle to maintain a single agreement across all sites.

At press time for AMWU News, members across five sites were preparing for a final vote on the proposed single agreement, reached after they took protected industrial action in spring to get the result.

AMWU members held their nerve through news media attacks by the multinational’s CEO Terry O’Brien and Liberal MP Brett Whiteley who wrongly exaggerated what they earned.

AMWU National Secretary (Food) Tom Hale said the company’s ambition to force each site into separate agreements and to deprive workers at Devonport and Bathurst of any wage rise in the first year of the agreement had been comprehensively defeated.

“Members have stuck together under very difficult

circumstances. The result is that the company has retreated on major changes they wanted to impose,” he said.

“Our substantial conditions have been retained, our dispute handling procedures remain intact, seasonal workers retain their maximum and minimum hours and we have a wage rise which doesn’t discriminate between the sites.”

The agreement delivers a six per cent pay rise spread across three years, though it became clear that for the Tasmanian workers retaining conditions was their first priority.

A series of meetings across Simplot’s Devonport, Ulverstone and Harvesters sites in Tasmania and the NSW sites of Bathurst and Kelso in mid-November answered members’ queries, before the formal vote due late December.

Tasmanian State Secretary John Short said the company had played a media game of the threat of plant closures to try to pressure the workers, but they had called its bluff with overtime bans and stoppages ranging from an hour to a day in both NSW and Tasmania.

“Our members can be proud of the brave way

they withstood outside pressure and turned it back on the senior management,” he said.

He said Simplot had also wanted to take away the legal minimum and maximum hours that seasonal workers can be rostered for but these rights were maintained.

Devonport delegate and AMWU National Councillor Sue Creed

praised the determination of AMWU members in Tasmania, particularly workers at Ulverstone.

“We’re far better off than we were six months ago,” she said.

NSW State secretary Tim Ayres addressed Kelso and Bathurst workers in November, which delegate Brett McMillen said was helpful in clarifying their choice.

“It’s a hard situation here in Bathurst, but Simplot management definitely understand now they have a workforce which is united across all five sites and will not be stood over,” he said.

NSW State Secretary Tim Ayres talks to Bathurst members.

9

FIFOs HIDING DEPRESSION DUE TO FEAR Some Fly-In, Fly-Out (FIFO) workers suffering from mental health conditions are failing to take prescribed medication for fear of losing their jobs, a WA Parliamentary Inquiry has confirmed after revelations from the AMWU. WA State Secretary Steve McCartney said mining industry FIFOs surveyed by our union believed that if their bosses found out a worker had a mental health issue by traces of medication showing in regular urine testing, it would put their employment in jeopardy.

“The responses showed some of them were so worried that they were not taking antidepressants,” he said after reviewing the survey of 300 workers.

“When we asked them what they would change about the FIFO lifestyle, almost 80 per cent suggested shorter roster lengths, so they could see their families more often, with improvements to communication services on site also suggested.”

Mr McCartney’s views were endorsed by the WA Parliamentary Inquiry into FIFO workers’ mental health, with his evidence vital in helping it conclude that mental illness ‘pervades’ the state’s resource sector as a major, unresolved cultural problem.

The inquiry was sparked by union pressure after nine workers in the Pilbara took their lives in the previous 12 months.

Its interim report noted the AMWU survey findings, that the reluctance of workers to tell management, was due to worry about harm to future employment and the reaction at the workplace.

The AMWU believes employers in the sector have failed to address the problems, with chaplaincy and phone counselling services not adequate.

Survey comments by FIFO workers included: “A lot of people are too afraid to take anti-depressants short term due to drug testing and as a result management find out a person is suffering from depression and then usually confidentiality is out the window and the whole team finds out.”

a different room each shift and forced to share quarters - as contributing to mental stress and their sense of isolation from loved ones.

The strength of feeling over FIFO rosters has been shown at Barrow Island, where it caused 700 AMWU members and other unionists to reject an offer by Chevron and its contractors.

AMWU, CFMEU and ETU members on the Gorgon gas project want a new roster of 20 days off and 10 days on, rejecting a company offer of 23/9 on a new agreement due to start in January 2015.

The AMWU on-line survey revealed that worry about family was a key driver of stress with about 65 per cent citing poor communication links from site to home as a problem.

“In my experience people who admit to having mental health issues find it hard to keep a FIFO position as if they choose to take medication it comes up in urine tests and once it does the employer won’t have anything to do with them.”

Mr McCartney said the interim report had also identified another union concern, ‘hotelling’ where workers are often assigned

COLORPAK CRACK UNDER UNION PRESSURE Packaging printer Colorpak have backed down in the face of a determined union campaign and agreed to a deal with AMWU members who were aided by an alliance with our friends from the company’s New Zealand operations.

Anxious management compromised when faced with a 24-hour strike and support from across the Tasman.

Previously hardline bosses also faced embarrassment from a planned AMWU protest to shareholders outside the company’s Annual General Meeting.

The company agreed to a new 12-month union agreement covering its main site at Braeside in Melbourne, which delivers improvements including permanency after six months for casual and labour hire employees.

It also includes a legal deed giving extra security to union members in administration, genuine union consultation over workplace change plus a $295 tax-free bonus for every worker when the agreement is signed.

It was a dramatic change of attitude from Colorpak, which had aggressively targeted union members with letters to their homes after stoppages in October and wrongly claimed in the national media to have finalises industrial matters months ago.

AMWU delegate Iain Eld said the bridging deal was a solid base for pursuing a

10

national agreement including real-value wage rises in 2015, to bring Colorpak’s Sydney site under a single agreement with Melbourne.

“The management were extremely agitated at the prospect of our members stepping up protected action to the 24-hour stoppage, with our comrades in New Zealand pledging action in support,” he said.

“Collective action has shown you can

push what appears to be an unmovable employer into a reasonable position.”

The management agreed to three final union claims to have the planned actions cancelled.

AMWU National Print Secretary Lorraine Cassin said the determination of members had forced the company to understand it could not intimidate them.

“Our members stood up to Colorpak,

they took strength from one another to persist until they won the respect and proper consideration they deserve,” she said.

Ms Cassin said the AMWU would be lending its support to NZ members of our sister union, which is yet to finalise its agreement with Colorpak.

Help is on its way: AMWU National print Secretary Lorraine Cassin assured Colorpak members in Melbourne that New Zealand workers share their fight.

Book Review: THE FIGHTS OF MY LIFE By Greg Combet in later years were often impressed by his toughness and his strenuous dislike of exploitative bosses. Seems like these youthful experiences may explain a fair bit.

Greg Combet’s new book is a great summary of a life lived in the struggle.

From the son of battling parents, with a father who died too young, to a young labour movement activist, union official and finally Federal MP and Minister, Greg’s has been a life of service to the movement. His book is a tribute to the movement which has given him that life.

Starting out in the vineyards of outer Western Sydney, where his father was a wine maker, he recalls a childhood largely spent outdoors, ranging the vineyards and fields.

Much of this came to an end when, following the death of his father, his family were forced to move out of the company-provided house.

Those of us who worked with Greg

Greg tells the story of his various roles at the Workers’ Health Centre, the MUA, and the ACTU well. He provides a good description of life as a union official, and also of some of the major campaigns he was involved in. The highlight of the story is his leadership of the union movement during the waterfront dispute of 1998, when he became a household name. Appearing on our TV screens every night for over three months made his reputation, and he became ACTU Secretary shortly after, replacing Bill Kelty.

From that time, he has been in the public eye. Many of us were disappointed by his decision to move into federal politics in 2007, but it was clear that he had an important role to play in both the Rudd and Gillard Governments.

In the final section of the book he describes the dysfunction under both, and the toll that this took on his health. One of the more moving sections of the book describes how he had to limber up, almost like a prize fighter, to get through Question Time.

The book is a good read, and unlike a number of recent political biographies, has no axe to grind.

I doubt that we’ve seen the last of Greg . - ANDREW DETTMER. The AMWU is giving away 35 copies of The Fights Of My Life.

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

ASBESTOS CAUSE: AMWU HELPS BREAK RECORD Victory by a hot favourite in the AMWU National Handicap at Sydney’s Rosehill racecourse helped make it a great day for the record number of supporters at the annual race day for asbestos support.

About 660 guests filled the Rosehill Gardens Grand Pavillion in November to enjoy the live action while raising funds for the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia.

Our union again was in the forefront, sponsoring the AMWU National Handicap which brought an extra touch of class to the event when UKbased Godolphin stable colt Mohave was the winner.

Proceeds are believed to have broken the $60,000 barrier, which will fund a researcher at the Asbestos Diseases Research Institiute.

There is always a serious background to the day, with ADFA President Barry Robson alerting the audience to the shortfall in the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund expected by 2017.

The AMWU and other unions are working with the Foundation in pressuring multinational firm James Hardie to financially meet its moral obligation. Hardie is pushing to pay terminally-ill victims in installments rather than a lump sum.

SHOWCASE OF UNITY DEFEATS UGLY DISPLAY AMWU members who make the refrigerated cabinets keeping food fresh and presentable in your local supermarket have stood firm against distasteful tactics from a new American employer.

Workers at the Wetherill Park factory of McAlpine Haussman in Sydney voted to authorise strike action after the company offered an inferior enterprise deal to them, then sent intimidating letters to their homes pressuring them to accept it.

One letter detailed the unemployment rate of neighbouring suburbs.

Management came to its senses hours before an initial eight-hour strike and negotiated a sensible deal with AMWU delegates and officials.

The fitters, refrigeration mechanics and general workers voted up an agreement delivering annual pay rises, plus securing all existing entitlements including a redundancy agreement with a 60-week cap.

“It’s above the cost of living and we’ve been told its one of the best agreements in Sydney, ” said AMWU delegate Scott Casitovski.

“Sending propaganda out to homes trying to undermine our family relationships was not acceptable.”

The joint union delegation with Senator Ricky Muir (5th from left)

UNION WINS OVER SENATORS ON REDUNDANCY RIGHTS The AMWU has gained the support of crossbench Senators to stop the Abbott Government slashing the FEGS scheme, which pays out the entitlements of workers abandoned by employers who go bust.

A joint delegation to Canberra with the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia successfully secured the backing of the

Palmer United Party plus independent Senators John Madigan and Ricky Muir to block the Budget changes aimed at stripping back workers’ redundancy payouts.

Vulnerable workers who have relied on the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme (FEGS) joined delegation leaders Steve Dargavel, AMWU Victorian Secretary, and the TCFUA’s Michele O’Neil.

They included ex-employees of Bruck Textiles in Victoria, which went broke this year owing employees their

entitlements, and former Albury-Wodonga firm Paragon Printing, which had over 100 AMWU members when it became insolvent and its owner fled overseas.

The Abbott Government promised not to touch the FEGS safety net but now it wants to save money by slashing uncapped redundancy payments to just 16 weeks, which would hit hardest those loyal workers with decades of service.

Cool under pressure: delegates (L:R) Thong Lu, Phong Huynh, Vijya Chandrasekar, Scott Casitovski.

11

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 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 SA Branch 1st Floor 229 Greenhill Road, Dulwich, Postal: GPO BOX 1051, Adelaide SA 5001

(08) 8366 5800 Whyalla (08) 8645 7115 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

CLINTON COLE Thales Benalla munitions plant, Victoria I’ve worked here for 18 years, one year out of school, and have become a Team Leader in the large calibre manufacturing area. We make the large calibre shells used by the Navy, guns and bombs for the RAAF. Our area does all the big stuff , we send the components down to the high explosives area where they do final assembly with the chemical materials made in Mulwala.

I currently lead a team of eight people, though it has been as many as 26. I’ve been a delegate for over three years. I took up the role because I’ve always been pretty good at looking after myself, and thought I could help look after others as well, give them

the opportunities I had. As Team Leader, I’m responsible for making sure we get the right stuff out the door, but that will only happen if people are happy in their jobs, get a fair go and have everything they need to do things well. I pride myself on my direct (sometimes brutal) honesty.

We now know that the factory will be here for at least the next five years. The Defence Minister gave us that assurance after we campaigned over the uncertainty which arose from the government freezing the tender process. It’s important not just for the 260 people here but for hundreds of others in businesses that service this place.

Our EBA which wrapped up last year was the toughest for us because Thales had locked in their prices to prepare their bid for a renewed contract and did

not want extra expense. We had stoppages of an hour a day for 6 weeks, but we got a satisfactory pay increase, extended term and kept our conditions. The key to success was talking to and informing everyone, getting their feedback and making sure all members knew they were valued. Talks came just as I finished AMWU delegate course 2 including negotiating skills, so that was perfect. It taught me that going in with your facts straight, keeping calm and thinking about your responses is very important.

Thinking things out, careful planning and working with fine tolerances has helped with my hobbies outside work too. It’s helped me get my ’56 Ford back on the road. My spray-painting skills will come in handy too, so my Zephyr Mark II is no bomb!

(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