Marcus Greville, Melbourne
"Not paying these workers is in fact theft", Electrical Trades Union (ETU) organiser Shaun Leane told Green Left Weekly. He was commenting on the refusal of electrical parts manufacturer Heinemann Electric to pay wages to 50 of its employees for five days of work after they took protected industrial action.
The workers have been on strike since September 5 in protest against the company's action. The picket line outside the company's Musgrave factory has been well attended and a wide range of other unions' member, and members of Union Solidarity and the Socialist Alliance have attended the two solidarity breakfasts at the picket.
The company employs electrical fitters and process workers at the Musgrave site. The process workers receive a meagre $16 per hour and are among the lowest-paid ETU members.
The ETU has been negotiating with Heinemann since April for a new enterprise agreement that would include guaranteed average wage rises of 4.3% per year over three years and the locking in of eight hours work a day from Mondays to Fridays. Heinemann offered an average rise of only 3.6% per year and demanded the right to force workers to work an average of 152 hours over any four-week period in a shift pattern dictated by management.
The workers feared that to meet production deadlines Heinemann would compel them to work 60 hours in one week and 20 hours the next, and not have to pay penalty rates for overtime. Heinemann had already admitted that it intended to "eliminate overtime".
WorkSafe has outstanding provisional improvement notices (PINs) against Heinemann for workplace bullying. Workers claim that the bullying includes racial abuse. Heinemann has had nine PINs served against it for breaches of occupational health and safety and another five notices of non-compliance with PINs.
The September 15 Australian reported that Peter Campbell, one of Heinemann's senior sales representatives, also heads the neo-Nazi White Pride Coalition of Australia and is under investigation by the police.
Heinemann and its legal advisers, Freehills, are keen to test a section of the Howard government's new IR laws that they claim bans companies from paying wages to workers taking any form of industrial action. Freehills helped draft the Work Choices legislation.
The 24-hour picket line outside Heinemann Electric is at the corner of Springvale Road and Faigh Street, Mulgrave. Your solidarity is welcome.