IR News

CSR Protest: Why Union Solidarity organises assemblies

2008-07-26T11:55:00.003+10:00

Assembly at CSR > Enlarge image

Friday 25th July 2008 saw 100 Union Solidarity activists from the Western suburbs shut down the CSR Construction site, Lyell St Yarraville.

Workers and their unions on this site have a range of longstanding issues.

However Union Solidarity, as friends know, is less concerned with the issues than we are with the use of undemocratic laws against workers and their unions in the righteous pursuit of their interests.

It is this central point around which Union Solidarity was formed and continues to protest: union activities are not criminal as current industrial law paints them, but are simply designed to insure that workers have the same rights as employer organisations in the pursuit of their interests.

CSR have employed a man named John Kint who has an extremely bad history of eliminating workers' and unions' democratic rights through the Howard years, notably at Port Campbell. Kint has now told workers on the CSR site that if they talk to a union organiser they will be docked four (4) hours. Clearly the same penalties do not apply to employers seeking to meet with their unions/associations!

Australians voted overwhelmingly in 2007 to put an end to this sort of unequal injustice, to the point where for the second time only in our nation's history a Prime Minister lost his seat. Clearly, however, the new government does not feel confident enough, under massive corporate pressure, to change the laws in a thoroughly democratic direction.

It is up to the people to provide enough weight and pressure back the other way, a powerful enough action and voice against the totalitarian temptation which the Howard years unleashed. For our part Union Solidarity will step in whenever workers tell us of bullying and intimidation sanctioned by bad law.

With all of the problems facing our nation economically and interconnected to that environmentally, the totalitarian temptation will seem to many employers even more alluring. We must resist that tendency.

Only an entitled people, in a rights-based economy, can act in the responsible ways which our uncertain future will demand from us. Rights are needed which empower Australian workers to be able to respond in a fully engaged manner, to deal with crises around manufacture, water, transport, power/energy, the health problems which will arise, the rapid re-localisation we will need of jobs and tasks which three decades of globalisation have moved from the shores of our nation.

Without rights enabling workers and their organisations to act, does anyone truly believe that central government alone will provide for our needs, even if they had the confidence to do so in the face of corporate threats?

Governments are too focussed on short-term electoral outcomes and the more so the less of our resources the nation owns.

Building workers without rights under the Building Construction Industry Improvement (sic) Act are not only disempowered in the pursuit of their immediate interests to a degree not experienced by other workers, and certainly not experienced at all by employers, but importantly for the us in the community, they are unable to play the historic role they have always played in defence of communities and the general good.

It is crucial that we are even more outspoken in our opposition to laws that would silence the working class voice in this country, at this time of impending crisis. If CSR escalates the problems of building workers in Yarraville the community stands ready to build resistance to those moves.

more info: John Kint at Port Campbell | Kint pressuring OH&S rep

Boeing Cartoons

2008-07-04T15:44:00.003+10:00

Towards the end of the Boeing strike we received the following cartoons.

AMWU Climate Change Resolution

2008-07-04T12:49:00.001+10:00

Here is the final Climate Change resolution as endorsed by the AMWU State Council.

STATE CONFERENCE AGENDA ITEM - CLIMATE CHANGE

"The AMWU recognises that the most serious issue facing humanity is the issue of climate change as a result of global warming. If urgent action is taken within the next 10 years, it may be possible to prevent runaway climate change from occurring. Runaway climate change is the point at which global warming is irreversible.

Global warming is a catastrophe for the entire planet. With respect to humanity, the AMWU recognises that it will be working class people who will suffer most.

While the previous Howard government refused to set targets for Lowering greenhouse gas emissions, the current Rudd Labor government's targets are so low that they would not prevent runaway climate change from occurring. By treating the issue of climate change as an economic problem rather than an environmental emergency, the Rudd government is unlikely to adopt the changes that are urgently required unless pressure is applied.

The AMWU is concerned that many of the solutions being put forward by governments, corporations and sections of the environment movement are ones which will be ineffective in stopping climate change but which will shift the cost of action against global warming from big business to working class people.

For these reasons, the AMWU pledges to involve itself in the campaign to stop global warming.

The AMWU believes that the big polluting corporations which are Responsible for global warming should be responsible for paying the costs of fixing the problem. Working class people are not responsible for the problem. For this reason, the AMWU is opposed to measures such as increasing energy bills. Particularly those of low income house holders.

The AMWU will support initiatives which provide demonstrable net benefit (in moving from unsustainable to sustainable practices). It notes the claimed potential of such technologies as 'clean coal' and carbon capture and storage. Carbon capture and storage is an experimental technology, not proven anywhere on a commercial scale.

The AMWU is sceptical about the potential of CCS to reduce emissions in the next 20 years as scientists say we must. It retains an open mind on these, and will support them if their viability can be proven and they do not impose unreasonable/any costs on current and future generations. In the meantime, any research and development initiatives should be predominately funded by private industry and openly monitored / audited by the relevant government body and stakeholders.

The AMWU is sceptical about carbon trading as an effective mechanism to address climate change because the market, without strong intervention by governments around the globe, will not reduce emissions.

Conference reaffirms its opposition to Nuclear power generation.

The AMWU calls on the government to commit to a radical reduction of greenhouse gases. This policy needs a focus on energy and water conservation by industry.

A centrepiece of this requires the government directing resources for climate change into developing and sustaining a domestic manufacturing industry producing renewable energy systems. This industry must be located in communities most effected by a shift to renewable energy generation.

The AMWU commits to campaigning for members in the energy industry not to be disadvantaged. It calls on the government to guarantee and provide all these workers with the appropriate additional training and skills and maintaining as a minimum their current pay and industry conditions in any replacement low or zero carbon generation facilities.

The AMWU recognises that for runaway climate change to be prevented, a mass movement along the lines of the Your Rights at Work campaign is required.

The union movement has an important role to play to help develop such a movement.

As a first step, the AMWU needs to:

invite guest speakers on the issue of climate change to address members' meetings,
consider clauses in EBAs for factories & worksites to take measures to reduce their greenhouse gas contribution,
involve itself in the climate change movement,
develop a training program for delegates around Climate Change,
regional areas affected by AMWU policy need to be fully consulted and involved in development of AMWU Policies that may effect the region."

Defend Dave Kerin

2008-05-04T19:07:00.005+10:00

Union Solidarity coordinator Dave Kerin addressing a mass meeting at Boeing. He has now been ordered to appear before the Workplace Ombudsman

Union Solidarity Coordinator Dave Kerin is now facing up to 6 months jail for supporting striking workers at Boeing.

The Australian Workplace Ombudsman has issued Dave with a “Notice to produce documents” in relation to the recent strike at Boeing.

We are asking you to indicate your public support for Dave Kerin and Union Solidarity.

First Name:

Messages of support for Boeing strike

2008-04-30T17:37:00.002+10:00

Throughout the strike at Boeing (April 2008) Union Solidarity received messages of support.
If you still wish to express your support for the dispute and the stand the Boeing workers took send a message to boeingdispute@unionsolidarity.org

Mon, April 28, 2008:
I am a firefighter and union official from NSW.

On behalf of members across the Illawarra region, please know that our
thoughts and support are with you.

We are keeping an eye on the dispute, and will be passing the hat around
soon.

Stay united,

*Darin Sullivan*

Secretary - Illawarra Sub-Branch
State Committee of Management
Fire Brigade Employees' Union

Sun, April 27, 2008

I'm hearing about your strike from fellow Wobblies. Keep on keepin' on fellow workers.

An injury to one is an injury to all,
Mike B)

http://iamawobbly.multiply.com/
Mike Ballard

Friday, April 25, 2008 11:58 PM

Our strong solidarity and support for comrades and workers at the boeing
factory in Port Melbourne. Keep stand up for your rights. We shall overcome!

MERICIO AKARA

Activist, Timor Leste,Luta Hamutuk

The Timor Leste Institute for Research, Advocacy and Campaigns (Luta Hamutuk) is a non-governmental organization formed on 20 June 2005 by several Timorese activists, who are committed to carrying out activities and programs related to the National Budget, which can contribute to social and psychological development in Timor Leste.

Sat, April 26, 2008

Striking Boeing workers at Hawker de Havilland Port Melbourne

Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) would like to express our solidarity with workers at at the Port Melbourne-based Boeing subsidiary Hawker de Havilland who have gone on strike since 9 April.

PSM condemns the anti-worker law than fine workers for participating in industrial actions. PSM urges Kein Rudd's government to abolish such laws which has passed down by the previous right-wing government.

We are looking forward to get more update on your struggles.

In solidarity,
Choo Chon Kai
International Bureau
Socialist Party of Malaysia / Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
visit our website at:
http://parti-sosialis.org/

Sun, April 27, 2008

Dear Comrades,

Please pass on my greetings of solidarity to the striking Boeing workers. They have my full support in their struggle.

I would like to assist financially and hope that this will be possible via telephone and credit card as I am currently overseas.

In solidraity,
Bea

Wed, April 30, 2008
Dear Comrades,

At its meeting of 16 April, the Australian Bureau of Statistics Central Office Subsection Delegates Committee unanimously decided to send you the following message of support. Please accept our apologies for the delay in sending it.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics Central Office Subsection Delegates Committee congratulates the striking AMWU members at Boeing in Fisherman's Bend for your courageous stand in taking industrial action in support of workmates sacked in violation of the EBA. Mutual support is the fundamental principal of the labour movement and it is
encouraging to witness workers who still put this into practice. Your action sets an example for us all.

An injury to one is an injury to all!

In solidarity,
Pierre Sibilant, Secretary

Legal situation with Boeing strike

2008-04-18T20:02:00.000+10:00

Below is the array of legal action that Boeing has initiated against their own workforce since the dispute started.

Federal Court Order 14 April 2008 | Covering Letter Federal Court Order 14 April 2008 | 12 April 2008 Larissa Tilley-Smith Letter | Federal Court Order of 11 April 2008 - HdH v AMWU| Federal Court Application | AIRC Order | AIRC Recommendation

Boeing won an injunction in the Federal Court that could make rank and file members of the AMWU liable for company's losses (Boeing claims about $1m a day).

A trial on May 7 (with May 8 and 9 set aside if needed) will hear Boeing's case for damages.

April 17
Boeing promised to drop all legal action but only if workers behaved themselves.

"If employees return to work and stay at work through the life of the current EBA, all legal proceedings, against all working employees, will be dropped." [letter of intent April 17]

However on April 16 Boeing promised to pursue the AMWU and individual rank and file member for damages.

"Today I have asked our lawyers to pursue contempt charges against the AMWU and certain members we believe are responsible for leading you down this reckless and destructive path." [letter April 16]

more on legal situation...

Workplace Express 14 April.

2008-04-17T16:42:00.004+10:00

The following article from Workplace Express outlines the legal situation facing the striking Boeing Workers.

==========================================================
Monday 14th April 2008 7:03 pm EST

The Federal Court will tomorrow conduct a full-day mediation in a bid to end the stoppage at Boeing Commercial Airplanes subsidiary Hawker de Havilland's site in Melbourne, after the company today won an extension of an interlocutory injunction that potentially makes individual workers liable for the company's losses of about $1m a day.

The company initially won a s496 order last Tuesday after some 800 workers at the Fishermens Bend aircraft components manufacturing facility walked off the job on Monday.

The order, against the AMWU and the individual workers eligible for membership of the union, took effect on Wednesday. Workers returned to the job that day, but later went out again.

The company then won an interlocutory order, again against the union and the individual workers, from the Federal Court's Justice Shane Marshall on Friday.

Justice Marshall extended the order today and set the matter down for an expedited trial on May 7 (with May 8 and 9 set aside if needed).

He directed the parties to undergo a full day of mediation tomorrow, before the court's Victorian district registrar, Sia Lagos.

AMWU Victorian branch secretary Steve Dargavel today addressed a mass meeting at Fishermens Bend and informed members of the terms of the orders, but after he left the workers voted by an overwhelming majority to stay out.

Dargavel told Workplace Express that the union had consistently sought dialogue with the company over the dispute, but that Boeing had consistently resisted.

The dispute arose after the company dismissed a cell leader (supervisor) and an employee over alleged irregularities in his recording of employees' timesheets.

Boeing spokesperson Ken Morton today said the company couldn't tolerate dishonesty.

He said the company "reserved its position" on whether to pursue damages against 800 individual workers named in the orders.

Case No. VID210 of 2008

======================================================
more info: Boeing Actions Archive | www.unionsolidarity.org

Support Qantas Valet Parking workers

2008-02-22T18:13:00.004+11:00

21 February 2008
By ASU-Victorian Private Sector Branch

About 170 workers across major airports in Australia currently need your support. In the dying days of AWAs in Australia, the new firm contracted to provide Qantas' Valet Parking wants to put all staff on a five year AWA.

In Victoria alone, where 70 people are affected, staff are being forced to sign an AWA that takes away shift penalties, overtime payments, paid meal breaks and job classifications.

It's a last minute attempt by a new company to have customer service staff, drivers and car washers, employed under the harsh and unfair WorkChoices AWAs.

The new Qantas Valet Parking contract is due to commence on March 1.
Show Qantas Valet Parking staff that you support them and their desire to bargain collectively by emailing Equity Valet Parking Director John Demetre, with a copy to Shadow Minister for Employment, Business and Workplace Relations Julie Bishop. You can send the email here:

http://www.asu.asn.au/campaign/

more info: www.asu.asn.au/media/airlines_qantas/20080221_valet.html

Council drops charges against Ken Mooney

2007-12-17T14:29:00.000+11:00

Brimbank Council has dropped charges against community activist and key Union Solidarity supporter Ken Mooney.

Ken was contesting a fine imposed by the Brimbank Council for allegedly interjecting from the public gallery during a meeting considering the future of the site of the Sunshine Swimming Pool.

He contested the charge against him on the basis that subjecting him to a fine for commenting on matters of legitimate political concern, which were being considered by his political representatives, is inconsistent with the general freedom of communication necessary for the maintenance of democratic government.

Ken Mooney was fined for failing to comply with the direction of the Chair at a Meeting of the Brimbank Council after having been called to order by the Chair; in alleged breach of Section 53 of the Meeting Procedure Local Law No: 1 of 2002."

more info: Upcomingevents - Ken Mooney

Don’t let Bruck Textiles steal Christmas

2007-12-17T10:48:00.000+11:00

Wangaratta-based, Bruck Textiles, that makes fabric used in Australian Army and Victorian Police uniforms, lodged an application to terminate the current Union agreement the day before the Federal Election and has since given out to its workers five year sub-standard AWA’s that will reduce their rights and conditions.

Some workers at Bruck have not received a pay-rise for three years and the company pays some workers wages that fall below the Australian Fair Pay Standards.

With the Christmas break just over a week away and with the threat of their collective agreement being terminated, the Bruck workers are feeling extremely pressured to sign the AWAs.

You can help in preventing Bruck Textiles from proceeding with its desperate attempt to exploit WorkChoices - before the laws are changed - by putting approximately 240 workers onto AWA that will strip Award entitlements and conditions and will last for the next five years.

The Union movement successfully helped to drive the Howard Government from office and we now have a chance to see the end of its extreme WorkChoices laws.

But until the new Rudd Government makes the necessary changes to the laws, rogue companies will cling to the discredited WorkChoices and lock workers into unfair and sub-standard AWAs.

You can help put some of the pressure back on the company by contacting Bruck Textiles

Email: brucksales@bruck.com.au | Fax 03 57231101 or 02 9366 3388

Demand that the company listens to the will of the workers by withdrawing the AWAs and join the TCFUA at the negotiating table.

more info: Tommy 0409 550 460 | 03 9639 2955 | tclarke@tcfvic.org.au | www.tcfvic.org.au | www.bruck.com.au

Libs defeated by community outrage over Workchoices.

2007-12-03T20:31:00.000+11:00

The fantastic November 24 federal election result is definitely worth celebrating. It’s now time to reflect on the significance of the victory and face the challenges ahead.

Firstly the stunning swing to Labor was the product of mobilising the community. The huge nation wide Your Rights at Work rallies, public meetings, community protests, strikes and pickets against unfair dismissals all played a role in stopping the worst excesses of Workchoices being carried out. They also demonstrated the unfairness of the legislation and the power of the union movement.

We need to savour victory but remember we have only won a battle in the larger war. The damage done to the community as a result of 11 years of conservative government is hard to underestimate; we are in a rebuilding phase. We need to focus on the following:

Winning back tens of thousands of workers who left unions over recent years.
Develop strategies to get 1.5 million workers off AWA's and onto union collective agreements.
Organise new sections of workers, especially young workers in casual employment.

The federal election was a mandate to change the IR system. Regardless of the semantics of policy positions millions of working class people voted for a fair and just industrial relations system.

We therefore call on the new government to:

Acknowledge that union officials have the right to enter workplaces to protect and represent the interests of workers.
Ensure that workers have the right to collectively bargain.
Guarantee a “Right to strike”.

It should be noted that these are not “extreme” demands but the International Labour Organisation conventions. They form the preconditions of any society that claims to respect democratic rights.

All charges and pending fines against union officials and workers resulting from taking industrial action under the previous government need to be dropped. This is particularly the case in the construction industry where workers face the draconian powers of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC).

Supposedly the ABCC was set up to curb illegal activity in the construction industry but has focused on attempting to crush legitimate union activity and persecute ordinary rank and file union members. This disgraceful and anti-democratic commission needs to be shut down. Guaranteeing the continuation of the construction boom should not come at the price of destroying some of Australia’s best unions.

The ascendancy of the Labor Party into office does not mean the demise of Union Solidarity. We will need to exist as long as employers have the ability to fine and penalise workers and unions who take industrial action.

2008 could see an increase in industrial disputes. A number of EBA’s expire next year and workers could be more confident as a result of the federal election. On the other hand employers might try and set the tone of the new government by provoking strikes and insisting that the "rule of law" be followed.

We also need to remind ourselves that we are fighting the effects of globalisation. Employers are compelled to continually attempt to drive down wages and conditions while increasing productivity.

Over 2007 Union Solidarity strengthened our ability to respond, we improved our communication systems and increased our supporter base. We need you to be ready in 2008.

Union Solidarity has learnt over the past three years, through numerous community assemblies and pickets that solidarity and direct action works, if you fight you can win. It’s not rocket science.

Going forward we face new and seemingly insurmountable challenges. Stopping Climate Change will necessitate a radical restructuring of the economy if human beings are to survive. As Albert Einstein said “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” If the union movement doesn’t adopt new and creative solutions to the looming environmental crisis we will become the victims of it.

The second great challenge in this country is the continuing dispossession and denial of equal opportunity for indigenous Australians. Unions still remain the biggest and most democratic mass organisations in Australian society. If we can’t use our leverage to elevate the position of indigenous Australians then history will rightfully condemn us.

We should be extremely proud of our efforts to kick out the Howard government. The election was a testimony to the decency of ordinary Australians. 2007 ended on a high note, we now need to be focused and ready for 2008.

Yours in Solidarity

Union Solidarity

Delegate Urges Support for September 26 rally.

2007-09-20T13:59:00.000+10:00

"I'm using this song that I wrote a few years back about casual work to drum up support for the building unions rally on 26 September. Assemble at Trades Hall cnr Lygon st. and Victoria st. Melbourne at 10am to stand up against unfair and unjust anti-union laws."

more info: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwmhQ3xUt1o

CEPU EB7 campaign

2007-09-11T22:09:00.000+10:00

Joan Doyle speaks about Australia Post and upcoming industrial action.

more info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4irb3bpk3c

It's the law-ah!

2007-08-18T17:00:00.000+10:00

Feel angry about the federal Liberal government spending millions of dollars in a blatant propaganda campaign defending and lying about workchoices?

Download this gem of a response.

Rally Save Posties Jobs

2007-07-28T16:17:00.000+10:00

download leaflet

4.30pm Wednesday
August 1
Crn Exihibition & La trobe Sts
Melbourne.

Australia Post wants to close the Fitzroy Mail Centre. Management has informed staff many with several year service that:

* they are no longer required
* that they are splitting their jobs and
* replacing them with new people (on less wages) to do their work.

17 jobs are on the line, rally to defend jobs, working conditions and decent postal services in the inner city.

Background - CWU statement. (Communication Workers Union)
On July 19, 2007 Australia Post finally came clean about their plans for the closure of Fitzroy Delivery Centre. Their plans to close the centre have been known for some time. The staff and the union were aware that Clifton Hill & North Fitzroy (Postcode 3068 - 10 posties, 2 night-sorters and 2 parcel contractors) were to be relocated to Preston.

We have been asking for some time about the plans for Fitzroy, Abbotsford and Collingwood (Postcodes: 3065, 3066 & 3067). We have been told nothing was decided yet. Never did we think they would come up with such an unjust, expensive & unworkable plan.

The 17 posties involved have been told they can either work night-shift from 1am – 9.30am for 15% penalties, (A NIGHT SHIFT WITHOUT THE TRADITIONAL 30% PENALTIES – NO WAY!) or scramble for vacancies in other Delivery Centres.

As well as the 17 traditional posties, there are at least 5 night-sorters, 3 box-sorters, relievers, parcel contractors and supervisory staff affected by this site closure. Despite this, management have already started offering part of the Fitzroy work to part-time staff at City Street Delivery Centre who are co-located at CMPC.

Without consultation with the staff or the union, management handed out a Staff Preference Survey expecting staff to make a decision on their futures!

The union is in dispute on this matter, and will be informing our parliamentary representatives, the media and the local community about these attacks on their posties.

The union’s proposal is that Fitzroy is located at CSDC or CMPC and travel to their rounds by train, tram, car or bike. This would be efficient, economical and practical unlike management’s proposal. This is obviously a pilot project for management’s plan for the future of Delivery. It needs to be stopped.

Joan Doyle, Secretary, Communication Workers Union
more info: Rally leaflet | Peter Vining

WOODSIDE TURNS BLIND EYE TO SAFETY CONCERNS AT PORT CAMPBELL SITE

2007-07-13T18:39:00.000+10:00

Down load press release

13/7/07
The Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, has called on Woodside Energy to investigate allegations of employees of subcontractors being sacked after reporting safety incidents at its Otway Gas Plant in Port Campbell, Victoria.
The call for a response comes after seven months of failed attempts at dialogue with the company.

The Uniting Church holds a significant parcel of Woodside shares. As an ethical investor, it is concerned that Woodside Energy is exhibiting apathy towards safety issues at its Port Campbell site.

“We are deeply disappointed that Woodside has refused to conduct a thorough investigation into allegations that employees of subcontractors have been sacked over reporting of safety incidents”, said Dr Mark Zirnsak, Director of Social Justice for the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania.

“We are worried that if the allegations are true, employees on the site are being intimidated into not reporting safety risks. This thereby increases the likelihood of a serious accident on the Port Campbell site.”

“We are aware of two employees of subcontractors who say they were sacked over safety concerns.
“One former employee alleges he was asked to falsify an incident report and has signed a statutory declaration to that effect. After he refused to do so he says he was sacked.

“Another worker alleges he was sacked on the mere suspicion that he reported a safety incident on site. Regrettably, Woodside refused to speak to either of the two former subcontractor employees directly. They were satisfied with assurances that no one was fired because they reported safety issues.

Dr Zirnsak said, “Woodside’s response to these two cases has been inadequate. A reasonable employer would want to talk to the people involved and take steps to address the concerns.

“We feel Woodside is not living up to its own policies and that it is not ensuring its contractors and subcontractors maintain an environment where safety issues can be freely raised by employees”, Dr Zirnsak said.

Woodside refused a request by the Uniting Church to provide data about safety incidents and accidents on the site.
The Otway Gas Plant construction site is supervised by Technip Oceania, a company contracted by Woodside. The Synod’s Justice and International Mission Unit have undertaken many attempts at dialogue with Woodside over the last seven months. A promised formal response from Woodside, due by January 2007, never materialised.

UCA Growth Fund Limited and Uniting Growth Fund Limited are shareholders in Woodside Energy. The Synod Ethical Investment Policy states, “We seek to invest in companies which promote human welfare, dignity and respect and for the general good…” The policy requires the church to take into account in its investments areas such as “human rights, occupational health and safety and environmental management.”

For all media queries or to arrange an interview with Director of the Justice and International Mission, Dr Mark Zirnsak, contact: Kim Cain 0419 373 123 | Ruth Snelleman-Smith 0418 330 483

Unjust laws wont defeat us.

2007-07-13T17:32:00.000+10:00

download leaflet

Over the past two years Union Solidarity has been involved in numerous disputes where workers’ basic rights were denied and where traditional union activity was limited by the current repressive IR laws.

Most of these were won. Union Solidarity makes use of very simple tactics of direct action and solidarity. And it has been effective. Workers have been re-instated, redundancies paid out, other employers warned that anti-worker and anti-union behaviours will have consequences. And those of us participating have been empowered – fighting shoulder to shoulder for the kind of world we want, using a successful act of civil disobedience. Realising that the bosses and politicians don’t have all the power!

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that we have the right to join and form trade unions in the protection of our interests. This Human Right is now being legally violated. It is therefore our duty to disobey these bad laws, and to stand together in defence of our fellow workers’ rights.

If you join the Union Solidarity SMS database, you will receive a message when solidarity is needed at a dispute. You will normally have a few hours or days notice of where and when a community assembly is forming, and you will be able to come and put your body on the line, in defence of the kind of community you want to live in.

In order to form effective community assemblies we need more people responding to these calls, and more people on the database.

To join the database visit www.unionsolidarity.org and click on ‘contact list’ or ‘add your name’ alternative go straight to SMS list form, http://contact.unionsolidarity.org, enter your details and you will start receiving these alerts. There is no spam or other announcements on this alert system. You will only receive notification when solidarity is needed at a dispute.

Please join this important and effective campaign.

See you on the assembly
Union Solidarity

For the record

2007-07-13T17:21:00.000+10:00

Over the past two years Union Solidarity has been proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with many workers and community members fighting for justice. Below are some of the struggles we have been involved with. Download A4 leaflet

2005
Australian Envelope
A bitter and sometimes violent dispute over the sacking of a union delegate results in a settlement. Workers endure harassment by hired thugs and damage to personal property.

Colrain
A two-week strike wins an EBA, income protection and reinstatement of a stood down worker.

Robert Austin
Respected RMIT lecturer Robert Austin is sacked after supporting a student demonstration. A vocal campaign results in a negotiated settlement

Peter Vining
A CEPU delegate unfairly sacked by Australia Post. A series of actions continuing into 2006 finally results in out of court settlement.

2006
Finlay Engineering
A community assembly stops all deliveries and forces management to reinstate 3-sacked workers.

Save Sunshine Pool
Community and union action force the State Government and their local council to build a new outdoor pool.

Camp Sovereignty
Traditional owners, Indigenous people and their supporters establish a camp in Melbourne’s Domain Gardens to highlight issues of genocide, sovereignty and a just treaty with the traditional owners of Australia

Amcor Flexibles
Amcor workers at Preston face down legal threats and potential fines in a two-week strike against the forced redundancy of 4 union members. At the height of the strike 13 Amcor plants throughout Australia take industrial action in support.

Boeing
Boeing targeted and sacked 3 shop stewards provoking a strike. Workers vote to return to work after grounds for dismissal are re-examined and all legal action is dropped.

Port Campbell
A series of community assemblies successfully shut down the Woodside gas plant in Port Campbell. The actions are in protest of mass sackings, victimization of union members and harassment of OH&S representatives.

Toyota
Maintenance workers at Toyota in Altona strike in support of a delegate. An assembly at the factory gate secures the delegate a permanent job and all pending legal action against striking workers is dropped.

2007
Phonetec
An ongoing community protest outside a mobile phone repair centre wins a sacked workers job back.

Preston Motors
A month long strike wins stores workers at a car dealership a much improvement EBA and better redundancy entitlements. Also NUW: Unionist lend a hand

Coles Distribution Centre
Construction workers building the new Coles distribution centre at Somerton are forced onto AWA’s. Not happy with being ripped off and denied the correct award rates the workers all resign. A community assembly and protest action forces the correct rate to be paid through a union EBA and all workers are reinstated.

more info: Download A4 leaflet | Community Assemblies | Strikes | Community Protest | Actions | Upcoming Events

Stop the attacks on building workers

2007-06-27T21:21:00.000+10:00

The CFMEU and other construction unions are under enormous pressure from the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC). Approximately 90 investigations leading to possible prosecution, fines and or jail terms is currently running Australia wide with approximately 56 of them affecting Victorian building workers and unions.

Recently construction workers in Port Campbell building the Woodside gas plant who attended a mass meeting in defence of a sack shop steward have been summered to appear before the ABCC (Australian Building and Construction Commissioner). If the workers refuse to attend they face heavy fines and a jail term.

Construction union members are afforded less rights than accused criminals (they are denied the right to silence), at least if you rob a bank you have the right to remain silent in court. Even discussing matters raised in the commission with partners and family could result in fines and a jail term.

These outrages must stop. Behind the recent hysteria in the media about what certain union officials have said is the reality that employers in the building industry (and in general) want to smash some of the most militant and effective unions in Australia. Government backed and funded agencies like the ABCC are merely a tool to allow employers to get their way, deny working people basic democratic rights and increase the employer’s massive profit margins.

You can make a difference, please add your name to the Union Solidarity SMS alert list. Sooner rather than later we may need to demonstrate our support for workers in construction industry.

more info: SMS alert list | abcc.misery.com | CFMEU Video about ABCC

OK fellas, let's go home

2007-06-21T17:16:00.000+10:00

by GARY STEVENS

ONE of the Latrobe Valley's longest running industrial protests has ended.
Former employees at Mechanical Engineering Corporation's (MEC) Yallourn workshop left the site at the weekend after a 277 day protest.

The protest ended when the AMWU and 32 former MEC workers last week commenced legal action against their employer, Mechanical Engineering Services (MES), to secure their full redundancy entitlements.

The union and former workers filed a statement of claims in the Federal Court, seeking redundancy entitlements as well as penalties and damages for a breach of employment contract. Former employee John Scholtes said workers could now get on with their lives while their case is fought out in court.

"They're happy that they can get on with their lives again and find new work," he said. "They can work for somebody that they can enjoy working for and not put up with this type of stuff again."

Most of the workers have gone onto other employment. Workers set up a 24 hour a day protest at the gates of MEC when they were locked out of the Yallourn workshop by the company during a dispute over a new enterprise bargaining agreement in September last year.

MEC was placed into administration in January and employees who refused to return to work under Australian workplace agreements (AWAs) were later sacked.

MEC tried to ban the workers from protesting at the gates but failed in its court bid. Mr Scholtes last week praised his fellow former workers for their resilience during the 40 week protest.

"It's easy to walk away but it takes strength and guts to stand up for your rights and do something like that," he said.

"I think they've become stronger and wiser for it and have learnt from what happened here that solidarity works."

Protesters stayed on site throughout Christmas, Easter, the summer bushfires and the start of winter. Gippsland Trades and Labour Council (GTLC) secretary John Parker said it was a "big effort" to protest for so long.

"You only have to stay in a motel room for a few weeks and you can imagine, these aren't motel rooms," he said.

"They had to stay until such time as we were able to get them into the courts. The workers have to show an incredible amount of determination to get into the courts now because there isn't the arbitration system which allows these matters to be resolved."

Mr Parker said the 40 week dispute would have gone for no longer than four weeks if it was dealt with via arbitration under the old industrial relations laws.

"Because of the nature of IR laws today you've actually got to have a continual presence. These workers have had to actually sit on the line for 40 weeks. They went without working, every night and every day."

AMWU organiser Steve Dodd said the workers were seeking the entitlements they would have received under employment with the workshop's former owner, Skilled Engineering.

"They were guaranteed through a contract of employment (with MES when it took over the workshop) that their terms and conditions would be maintained, we're chasing the entitlements they would have received under their contract of employment," he said. "It is a significant amount of money that's owed to these guys."

more info: http://gippslandtlc.com.au/MECUPdate.htm

SA Education Rallies Successful

2007-06-18T16:58:00.000+10:00

Two and a half thousand teachers, parents and students crowded on to the steps of Parliament House yesterday to oppose the State Labor Government's latest cuts to public education.

AEU President Andrew Gohl compared the huge reductions in payroll tax demanded by big business with what the government was taking away from schools, and declared that Labor Premier Rann had forfeited the right to be called the Education Premier.

Similar rallies were held in regional centres throughout the State. Two hundred rallied in Port Lincoln. A similar number, representing some 30 Riverland schools, rallied in Berri. There were large turnouts in other centres as well.

Despite the Parliament House rally being large enough to block eastbound traffic along North Terrace, it was completely ignored by the Murdoch-owned sole local daily, the aptly-named Advertiser.

Gohl told the crowd that Education Department bureaucrats had said that there was to be no negotiation over the cuts when they met with Principal organizations, yet the Minister had only just stated on radio that the matter hadn't been decided and the WorkCover issue the major source of the cuts is yet to be resolved.

He said this was testimony to the pressure already applied by the decision to hold an after-hours rally, but that if the matter was not properly resolved in the bext week or so, teachers would be balloted for a strike.

more info: http://mike-servethepeople.blogspot.com

AWA arguments don't stack up against evidence

2007-06-18T16:50:00.001+10:00

IT HAS been a long time since industrial relations was so obviously central to a federal election. The debate is heated but not very illuminating. Voters must have lots of questions and lots of worries.

Does the mining sector face ruin without Australian Workplace Agreements?
How popular are AWAs?
Will workers be better or worse off without them?

To answer the questions about AWAs, we should examine the national picture first, then come back to mining. In so doing, we need to deal with some misconceptions and confusions.

First, across Australia, mining is not in fact the main site of AWAs. There are more AWAs in low-paid sectors like hospitality and retail where the official evidence shows that they have been used to cut costs still further.

This has mainly been achieved through abolishing penalty rates, reducing overtime pay, meal breaks and cutting out public holiday payments, shift-work loadings and bonuses.

Second, to argue, as the Government does, that we can tell that AWAs are popular just because there are more of them than in the past is simply untenable. Why? Because WorkChoices allows employers to offer AWAs as a pre-condition of employment. "Want the job? Sign the contract." So it is not logically possible to make any claim whatsoever about their popularity based on the number signed.

Let's come back to mining because so much of the debate about AWAs has focused on this industry, and especially on Western Australia's iron ore mines. Sometimes, the Government would have us believe that the mining boom is happening because of AWAs. The real causes of the boom of course lie elsewhere:

Global growth in resources,
Phenomenal expansion of the Chinese steel industry,
Huge increases in mineral prices.

This means that what is really happening is that AWAs are increasing because the industry is booming. Not the other way round.

The Government and others also talk about AWAs having delivered productivity increases. Why is it, then, that in coal-mining, with mainly union, collective agreements, productivity rates are actually better than in largely non-union iron ore?

At the very least, this reminds us of what the research from many countries tells us: that the connection between productivity and any form of regulation be it awards, enterprise agreements or individual contracts is very complicated. It is a genuinely difficult research problem, and it is not one that is solved by simple association. Just to say that an industry is booming and has lots of AWAs is not to say that there is any causal connections between those things.

As it happens, the Pilbara region in Western Australia provides a good test of these complex arguments. Since 1999, BHP-Billiton has had an iron ore workforce split between workers on the award and on individual contracts. In 2003, the unions sought wage rises to match those given to AWA workers. They told the Western Australia Industrial Relations Commission that people doing the same work should be paid the same rate.

The commission did what a lot of other people ought to do right now. It examined the evidence. The verdict was that "the productivity of award employees and their contribution to the performance of BHP, given the difference in working arrangements, is not significantly different from that of AWA employees".

This is a case that should be much more widely known. Not only does it explore in detail what happens in workplaces, it also reveals how unions and industrial relations have changed in the past few years. This award at BHP is nothing like the prescriptive and detailed, old-fashioned awards that reflected a very different world of work years ago.

If the economy is not really under threat without AWAs, then what about workers themselves? Most researchers would point to good reasons to say they are not threatened either. Quite the contrary. For a start, wages in mining are high not because of AWAs themselves. Remember: prices, demand and profits are at record levels.

There's still more to be said: AWA wage rates are high in mining because of unions. That may sound odd. But wage rates don't come out of nowhere; nor do they just come out of companies' calculations.

In iron ore, the original individual contracts had to compete with union-based rates. And those rates were far higher than average wages. Why? Because from the 1970s, the mining unions had won improvements in wages and conditions. So, even now, with low rates of union membership, the wage rates being paid are a result of previous rounds of unionisation.

This seems a world away from working life today but it is not. In research I have undertaken in the Pilbara in the past few years, there have been clear signs about what workers want from their employers and, when given a chance to have them, their unions. It is not chaos and disruption not even mainly about wages. They want safety, a say at work, and decent communities in which to work and live.

What the Federal Government and some of the companies want is not so clear given that the arguments about AWAs, productivity and high earnings just don't add up. In the east, and in low pay areas, it must be about cost reduction. In the west, in mining, it must logically be simply about keeping the union voice out.

Associate Professor Bradon Ellem (BA(Hons) MA, PhD) is from the Work and Organisational Studies, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney. b.ellem@econ.usyd.edu.au | http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/content.php?pageid=2470

Community Assembly in solidarity with Ormiston Crew – set to be replaced by a Flag of Convenience vessel

2007-06-06T21:53:00.000+10:00

“The Howard government’s trying to get rid of Australian seafarers and Australian ships. Where’s it going to stop? It’s not going to stop until we stop it.” Ormiston crew member speaking to Community Assembly, Yarraville, June 5th, 2007.

Suspicions have been raised this week that another assault on the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and its members is underway. MUA Victorian Branch Secretary, Kevin Bracken, this morning told a Union Solidarity community assembly that “we’re watching our work go bit by bit. It’s a fight we’ve got to have everywhere”.

Last week multinational shipping company CSL International attempted to use seafaring crew to unload the Capo Noli, a vessel in Port Kembla. Port Kembla stevedores established a picket line at the wharf. After a four day stand off CSL came to an agreement with the MUA and ACTU that the ship would comply with the International Bargaining forum agreement allowing local stevedores to unload the ship. Part of the agreement struck was a commitment from CSL that the Capo Noli will be replaced with an Australian owned and crewed vessel. This replacement is currently being converted from a tanker in China and will be flagged and registered in Australia.

This week at least one foreign flagged, foreign crewed CSL boat is expected to replace an Australian owned and crewed boat. There are fears that bosses will try to replace another four Australian crewed domestic transport vessels in coming weeks.

All this, within a month of the Federal Government’s introduction of the new Maritime Crew Visa, on July 1st, which will cost $100 million and theoretically improves the security checks on foreign crews operating in Australian waters. It has not been clarified how seafarers born and living overseas will undergo the same level of scrutiny as Australian seafarers are subjected to.

This morning’s community assembly was held in solidarity with the crew of the Ormiston, who expected to be told this afternoon that their boat is to be decommissioned, and replaced by a ship bearing foreign flags, crewed by foreign workers. About 100 supporters assembled around 11am this morning, outside the CSR property on Lyell St, Yarraville, where the Ormiston is docked.

The crew were notified during the morning that they were expected to bring the boat to Webb Dock at 3pm this afternoon. One of the workers said: “We will probably have to strip her. Take everything off, all our personal effects, move out of our home away from home. 134 years of CSR on this coast, it’s now the end of an era.”

Later this afternoon the Port of Melbourne stepped in, apparently worried that once docked the Ormiston may become a site of protest. It has denied the Ormiston a berth, and she is currently anchored at sea. A berth at Geelong or Sydney will be sought.

It is expected that the Ormiston will be replaced by a CSL International boat. This was rumoured to be the Stadacona, an ex-Australian vessel, now registered in the Bahamas and crewed by Ukrainian seafarers, due to arrive from Port Kembla tomorrow night.

However, the Clipper Trust, registered in the Bahamas and owned by the Danish ‘Clipper Group’ is en route from Bundaberg, contracted by CSR to carry sugar, a job traditionally done by the Ormiston. The Clipper Trust is scheduled to dock at Yarraville Berth #5 at 1:30 am tomorrow. It is unclear which vessel will replace the Ormiston and for how long. There is still a commitment from CSR to replace the Ormiston with an Australian registered vessel.

MUA Victorian Branch Secretary Kevin Bracken emphasised that: “We’re not against foreign born seafarers, we have fought in recent months for their wages and conditions. The goal of bringing in foreign flagged boats is to avoid Australian wages and conditions, replacing us with low paid, unskilled foreign crews working in unsafe conditions. We want to do the right thing by foreign workers too, but we want the right to work in our own country. Foreign workers should be bound by the union agreements with good conditions as well.”

In recent months the MUA has participated as a member of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), in locking in nearly 5000 boats with so-called ‘Flags of Convenience’ to a minimum standard of rights and entitlements for each worker at around $1400 per month. CSL International are reportedly not abiding by these minimum conditions, instead paying workers around US$300 per month. These workers are not provided with the safety equipment and procedures necessary to avoid loss of life in this dangerous job. They are not collectively organised and do not currently have the leverage to demand safe conditions. Many work for 6-9 months without returning home to their families.

A ‘Flag of Convenience’ (FOC) is defined by the ITF as “Where beneficial ownership and control of a vessel is found to lie elsewhere than in the country of the flag the vessel is flying, the vessel is considered as sailing under a flag of convenience”. FOCs avoid labour regulations in both the country of ownership and that of operation. They characteristically pay low wages, force long hours of work and provide unsafe working conditions. Both the Capo Noli, chartered by CSL and the Stadacona, owned by CSL, are Flag of Convenience vessels. Whilst operating mainly in Australian waters, these vessels occasionally leave for international waters and thus are able to claim exemption from fuel excise, from the GST and from income taxes. This further enhances the ability of FOC vessels to outcompete Australian owned and crewed boats. In 1996 the Howard Government introduced legislation which removed the ‘accelerated depreciation’ provision. This acted as a direct disincentive for Australian companies to buy new vessels and has contributed to the lack of replacement of Australian owned vessels as they age and retire.

The replacement of Australian crewed boats with foreign crewed boats isn’t just about keeping jobs in Australia, or about the safety of workers, it’s also an environmental hazard. One seaman from the Ormiston expressed the fear that: “It’s very dangerous for our coasts. It’s unsafe both for the workers and for the environment. We’re highly qualified workers, we’ve all completed the required course over at the Maritime College in Launceston, and the period of training…we’re being replaced by untrained foreign crews. Seafarers without any local experience of the coast line of Australia and the often treacherous waters, such as Bass Straight, which they will be working on.”

It is expected that a foreign crew will be used to take the Ormiston to India or Singapore to be taken apart, or that it will be towed without a crew. The MUA will contest this, arguing that the boat’s long term crew should work this final voyage.

CSR’s other remaining Australian owned and crewed ship, the Kowulka, may have received a reprieve this week. The boat, which carries gypsum from Thevenard to Sydney and Brisbane, has approximately 5-10 years of working life remaining. Whilst it was expected that the Kowulka would be replaced by a foreign flagged vessel in about three months, the MUA has negotiated that it continue to operate.

Cement Australia has told 3 cement ships including the Goliath and the Alcem Calaca to be in port tomorrow. CSL have denied any involvement. The outcome of these meetings is significant. It remains to be seen if there will be other attempts to replace Australian owned and crewed ships with foreign flagged ships.

It is expected that further Community Assemblies will be held in support of MUA members in coming weeks.

Stop throwing Wood on the fire

2007-05-22T17:19:00.000+10:00

By his own admission ex Freehills lawyer Stuart Wood isn’t having much luck lately. Wood who offers legal advice to employers and claims to be “one of Australia’s leading workplace relations barristers” has been on the losing side of a number recent industrial disputes. Contrary to the intent of Workchoices a string of strikes and community assemblies have resulted in real wins for unions and the workers they represent.

Wood asserts that unions are “outsourcing” picketing to groups such as Union Solidarity. He candidly admits to advising employers in six disputes where Union Solidarity have become involved. By his assessment workers have won every blue bar one.

“In only one case that I know of…has the unionsolidarity [sic] tactic not been successful”.

A familiar pattern seems to be emerging in Victoria where some employers are keen to exploit the climate created by Workchoices. Unions are taken on or legitimate claims are frustrated. Stuart Wood and law companies such as Freehills are only too keen to “advise” employers how legal avenues can be pursued to avoid negotiating with the union/s involved. Legal sanctions are often threatened or realised that stop the union playing an effective role. However the dispute continues, the rank and file remains strong and the community rallies support. Finally the employer comes to their senses and negotiates with the union. The dispute ends when union members are satisfied with the result, democracy and decency prevail.

The only tangible effect of conservative industrial law firms in a number of disputes has been to actually prolong the conflict and cost the employer more money. Not to mention the stress and angst caused to individuals and families by threats of legal fines to decent working people.

Wood’s and his cohort seem frustrated by this turn of events. The expectation was that employers under Workchoices would be have a free hand in implementing whatever changes they want.

“[S]uch as opening new operations, closing old ones, hiring, terminating or trying to develop new and more productive ways of working”

All of these changes of course can have a detrimental effect on the employees concerned. Unions have a legitimate role in representing the interests of workers affected by change and ensuring their interests are protected.

Wood’s reveals the real intent of Workchoices is to bypass this democratic process and allow the employers to implement any change regardless of the social consequences.

“Any operator who is thinking about making the changes that I have described …must have regard to the likely outworking of any change which is not accepted by the relevant union.”

However action by the community has frustrated efforts to bypass the relevant union and protected the interests of the employees concerned.

“I doubt that any of the project operators who have been hit with a union solidarity type response to their activities thought, when they began the planning for the changes, that they would be targeted in the manner that they have been.”

If for nothing else Stuart Wood should be commended for his candor and honesty. His arguments are directed to employer associations and not for general consumption. He seeks to position himself as something of an IR guru advising employers how to implement change in the face of union opposition and community solidarity.

“To some extent, planning must become more sophisticated and take account of these possibilities, perhaps probabilities, at an earlier stage.”

Wood finishes his paper with a warning to employers that we hope will become a taste of things to come.

“Because the community picket strategy works so well, from all perspectives and has been so effective in Victoria (and to an extent in Western Australia), it will not be long before the strategy is adopted in other states”

Lets hope so
Union Solidarity.

Reference:
Stuart Wood, Outsourcing Industrial Action, www.stuartwood.com.au, p. 10-13.

MEC Yallourn Dispute

2007-04-28T12:12:00.000+10:00

Latrobe Valley Express 19.04.06
• Court backs former workers' right to protest
• Standing Firm

A court bid by Mechanical Engineering Corporation to ban former employees from protesting outside the company's Yallourn Workshop has failed...more | Court Transcript

Latrobe Valley Express 5.03.07
• How did MEC set up in the Valley?
• Council Incentives

Latrobe City Council helped Mechanical Engineering Corporation (MEC) establish its Yallourn workshop it has been revealed...more

MEC workers: six month lock-out
The 49 locked out workers from Elliott group's MEC Engineering continue to maintain a six-month 'protest embassy' to fight for their jobs and entitlements...more

GTLC Media Release 21.02.07

MEC - History of Deceit

The Gippsland Trades and Labour Council calls on both State and Federal Government to change legislation...more

Latobe Valley Express 18.01.07

MEC employees left with difficult decision, Sign Up or Leave

Employees locked out of Mechanical Engineering Corporation's Yallourn workshop will be forced to return to work under individual contracts or they may lose their jobs permanently...more

GTLC Newsletter No3 28.11.06

Yallourn Workshop Embassy News

Latrobe Valley Express 6.11.06

Workers, MES refuse to budge in industrial row
Dispute Stalemate

The industrial dispute at Mechanical Engineering Services' Yallourn workshop has been labeled a 'ping pong' match after workers were again locked out on Friday...more

Green Left Weekly 8.11.06
by Sue Bolton

Locked out Yallourn workers need solidarity
Forty-nine workers at the largest workshop in the Latrobe Valley have been locked out for almost three months by Mechanical Engineering Services (MES). As soon has he'd locked out the workers, the company owner, Anthony Elliot, went overseas for several weeks...more

Latrobe Valley Express 26.10.06

Workers turn tables on workshop dispute

Workers at the Mechanical Engineering Services workshop in Yallourn have defied an order to return to work and are now out on strike...more

GTLC Newsletter No 2 23.10.06

Yallourn Workshop Embassy News

Latrobe Valley Express 16.10.06

Unions hope for MEC peace deal

Workers locked out of their Yallourn workshop by engineering firm MEC were hopeful of a resolution today, with union and company representatives due to enter discussions at 3pm...more

Latrobe Valley Express 2.10.06

Union passes the hat around for workers

A community support fund has been established for Yallourn workers locked out of the MEC workshop for the next three months...more

GTLC Newsletter No1 21.09.07

Yallourn Embassy Workshop News

GTLC Media Release 18.09.06

Howard's Treacherous IR Laws Used Against Gippsland Workers
48 Workers Locked Out

The Gippsland Trades and Labour Council Secretary, John Parker, has described the locking out of 48 workers for 3 months by Mechanical Engineering Services as un-Australian...more

Latrobe Valley Express 18.09.06

Employees maintain a vigil at Yallourn workshop

Workers continued to defy a three month lock-out at Mechanical Engineering Corporation's workshop at Yallourn by maintaining their protest at the company's gates this morning...more