BY AARON BENEDEK
& MEGAN CONNOR
SYDNEY — Fifty workers at the Insulation Solutions factory in the western suburb of Lidcombe went on strike on November 28. It was in response to more than four months of management opposition to their demand for a new enterprise agreement (EBA), which includes a $40 per week pay increase, following years of staff cuts.
Local Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMWU) delegate Ron Williams told Green Left Weekly that warehouse packers around Australia are paid 30% more than the skilled workers operating machines at the Lidcombe factory.
The company opposes any wage increase beyond $30 per week and is demanding further reductions in staffing levels.
The factory has a history of enforcing unsafe and unfair conditions for workers. Management has only this year installed a proper ventilation system to absorb toxic fume emissions that cause skin and eye irritations. Workers also claim they have been forced to work with exposed bags of oxide that have caused skin rashes.
Since the LHMWU and management began negotiations on the EBA in July, the company has engaged in a series of manoeuvres against the workers, including taking away their tea and coffee, cutting short their break time and docking their pay if they wash themselves prior to clocking off.
In response to management's hostility, workers placed bans on two machines in the factory on November 24. Then, on November 28, union officials called on workers to walk out.
While workers were supportive of strike action in principle, most are furious at how the union has dealt with the dispute.
On the morning of November 28, union officials initially warned against strike action. They argued such action would be illegal if it was undertaken at the same time machine bans were being run.
However, a few hours later, union officials back-flipped and told everyone to go on strike. Then, on the morning of December 2, following a recommendation from the Industrial Relations Commission, union officials told the workers they all had to go back to work because the strike was illegal.
Vinnie Lai, a machine operator at the company for 15 years, was furious. "The union said we can go on strike with a ban [on machinery] — but they don't know the rule. We've been set up."
"Every time we're told a different thing [by the union], and it's always the wrong thing. The union set us up to get us back to work — they [the company] have the union in the palm of the hand", said Tony Suter, another worker at the factory.
John Mundt, a LHMWU organiser, doesn't believe the company is likely to give in to the workers' demands. However, there are no plans for further industrial action, no strike fund is being organised and no support from other unions is being sought.
From Green Left Weekly, December 10, 2003.
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