BY GRAHAM WILLIAMS
GEELONG — Workers are facing divide and rule tactics from the bosses of the Godfrey Hirst carpet factory in South Geelong.
Due to begin a 48-hour strike on November 27 as part of an ongoing four-week campaign of rolling stoppages, workers have been approached by management with requests to join a crew of scabs to be bussed in to break the picket line.
The workers are currently in an enterprise bargaining period that coincides with that of many other textile factories covered by the Textiles Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia. Many of the different claims have common elements, including a trust fund to guarantee workers' entitlements.
"Companies are going bust all over the place and leaving workers high and dry. Employees can be loyal to a company for 20 years and then all of a sudden the company goes broke and they are suddenly without an income", said Brett Anderson, a shop steward. "There's really no support that the government will give them through Centrelink because, as these people are due to receive a lump sum, they aren't allowed to receive unemployment payments."
Many of the workers are angry at the government's role in the dispute. Government legislation guarantees workers only eight weeks of their entitlements, a pittance according to workers who are demanding three weeks' pay for every year of service. They are also demanding that the money be secured in a supervised trust fund, which could be paid out immediately the company collapsed.
Management is also known to have held meetings with industrial relations minister Tony Abbott.
According to Anderson, the government is "fighting to ensure that the TCFUA will not succeed" in its attempts to protect entitlements.
The workers have organised a "community breakfast" for November 27, starting at 6.30am, and are seeking community support if the company tries to get scabs into work.
From Green Left Weekly, November 28, 2001.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.