Sue Bolton, Melbourne
Unions are alarmed by the actions of a Melbourne factory that is demanding all of its workers be treated as "independent contractors" instead of employees.
The National Union of Workers (NUW) was negotiating a new enterprise bargaining agreement for the Kemalex Plastics' Dandenong South site when the company told the union that no new workers would be employed under the agreement, but would instead be treated as "independent contractors". Current employees would also be encouraged to become "independent contractors".
In response, 55 NUW members began an indefinite strike on April 27.
Kemalex makes plastic components for cars. The majority of workers earn around $480 per week, or $12.60 an hour, just above the minimum wage.
NUW state secretary Martin Pakula angrily denounced the company's actions. "Our members at Kemalex are employees in every traditional sense of the word and therefore deserve to be treated as such.
"Their work hours, duties and equipment are all dictated by the company. They are factory workers who have the same obligations to Kemalex as all 'normal' employees, but the company wants to treat them as independent entities which they are clearly not. They work on a factory production line."
As independent contractors, the workers would have to get an ABN and would lose all rights to sick leave, annual leave, long-service leave, parental leave, shift allowances and penalties. They would also lose access to unfair dismissal legislation and redundancy security, and would have to take out their own public liability insurance.
On May 5, the company attempted to intimidate the mostly migrant women workers on the picket line by using masked members of a motorcycle gang to escort tyres onto the site.
Federal workplace relations minister Kevin Andrews asked his department to prepare a report on the dispute, but has not sought input from the NUW or the Kemalex workers.
On May 19, the union heard rumours that Kemalex Plastics planned to escape the protected industrial action at Dandenong South. The rumours suggest that Kemalex Plastics will shut down both its Victorian and South Australian plants, make all current employees redundant and re-start the business under a new name.
It is believed that the legal firm advising the company is one that has close connections to the Liberal Party, and which has a reputation for trying to smash unions. Previous luminaries of the legal firm were federal treasurer Peter Costello and Liberal Party powerbroker Michael Kroger. While working with this legal firm, Costello tried to destroy the union at Dollar Sweets in the early 1980s.
As word of the issues behind the dispute spreads, the broader union movement is beginning to mobilise in support of the Kemalex workers. Different unions are visiting the picket line on different days.
At the Kemalex Plastics plant in Hendon, South Australia, a community protest is also in full swing. Most of the Kemalex employees in South Australia have already been forced into the sham practice of being considered independent contractors.
The striking workers would appreciate visits and donations — the picket line is outside Kemalex Plastics, corner of Greens Road and Tatterson Road, Dandenong South.
From Green Left Weekly, May 25, 2005.
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