By Chris Spindler
The Metal Trades Federation of Unions (MTFU) held mass meetings on September 30. The meetings voted to launch a wages and conditions campaign and endorse the make-up pay claim for injured workers.
At an enterprise level, the campaign aims to win: a 24% pay rise over three years; paid trade union training leave; 13 weeks long-service leave after 10 years' service; portable severance and sick pay; portable long-service, parental and annual leave; and an increase in sick leave to 10 days.
Unions will push for all enterprise agreements to expire by June 2000, allowing workers across the industry to campaign for new agreements at the same time.
The introduction of enterprise agreements fractured workers' unity. Some strong shops retain relatively good wages and conditions while many workers in smaller, weakly organised shops have had their wages and conditions undermined. This threatens conditions across the industry as a whole.
The MTFU will campaign across the industry for:
- no companies with no assets to be allowed to employ workers, as was the case with Patrick and its labour-hire subsidiaries during the maritime dispute;
- the right of unions to be consulted on all changes to employment and conditions;
- more permanent jobs, a decrease in working hours, a reduction in overtime and the maintenance of real income;
- the maintenance of awards;
- protection of workers' safety standards, with a safety committee and training in every workplace;
- the establishment of an industry fund to ensure workers receive their entitlements from employers;
- more apprenticeships and increased training opportunities for all workers.
The meetings also voted to pursue further wage increases to offset the impact of a GST if it is introduced.
The MTFU campaign will include workplace and regional mass meetings to decide on industrial action.
At the Springvale meeting of 250 workers, the acting national president of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Julius Rowe, compared the industry executives' huge wage rises (25% in 1995) to those claimed by the MTFU.
Rowe warned of increasing casualisation and diminishing job security in the industry. About 25% of metalworkers are on casual employment contracts.
In question time, John Virner walked out with 20 others. Virner is linked to the recently defeated leadership of the Victorian AMWU branch.
The motion in support of the campaign was carried unanimously, as was a motion for the make-up pay campaign.
A motion condemning One Nation and calling on workers to place the party last in their preferences was carried with only one vote against. It was explained that Hanson had supported award stripping and the removal of unfair dismissal legislation, and that One Nation MPs in Queensland had voted for individual contract legislation.