BY CHRIS SLEE
& GEOFF SPENCER
MELBOURNE — Strikes and lockouts continue at a number of Melbourne factories as members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union campaign for new enterprise agreements which include a 36-hour work week.
After taking industrial action on May 16, AMWU members employed at Stramit Industries' Preston factory were told on May 19 there was not enough work for all employees. After the workers decided not to go back to work unless everyone was offered work, Stramit management locked them out.
After five weeks of negotiations, workers at NCI Packaging Ltd (also located in Preston) went on strike on May 21. The AMWU shop steward at NCI, Goran Jovcevski said: "We are united. They are not going to break us."
AMWU members at the Frigrite factory in Cheltenham were locked out on May 1. Management has tried to keep the factory going using the National Union of Workers members (who were not locked out) and scabs from Skilled Engineering.
To show your solidarity with these workers, visit the picket lines. Stramit is located on Dundas Street in Preston. NCI is located on Chifley Drive in Preston. Frigrite is at 27 Grange Road, Cheltenham.
[A more extensive report of the AMWU Campaign 2003 is on page 11.]
From Green Left Weekly, May 28, 2003.
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