BY JOHN McGILL
ADELAIDE — An attempt to sack maintenance workers employed at Mobil's Port Stanvac plant in South Australia was exposed by the Australian on April 12. Mobil is the Australian subsidiary of US-owned oil giant ExxonMobil.
According to the Australian, 30 people answered an advertisement in the Sydney press about two months ago for staff experienced in oil refinery plant maintenance. The 30 trainees were told that their employment would involve crossing picket lines and union busting, and that they would be based at Port Stanvac. They are being paid $800 a week while in training at a secret western Sydney location, and have been promised $1400 a week plus overtime once they begin work at Port Stanvac. The scab work force was recruited by Sydney-based labour hire company Skillecorn.
As soon as Mobil's strike-breaking tactics came to light, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) national secretary Doug Cameron denounced the company's actions, likening them to the tactics used by Patrick Stevedores boss Chris Corrigan in his ill-fated attempt to destroy the Maritime Union of Australia in 1998.
Mobil's secret strike-breaking strategy is consistent with the hard-nosed attitude it is taking in current enterprise bargaining negotiations with the AMWU. Mobil management has rigidly stuck to its demand that the union agree to a reduction in the maintenance work force from 31 to 12. The union believes that Mobil intends to provoke a dispute, giving them the excuse to bring in the scabs.
AMWU SA branch president Ian Curry told the SA United Trades and Labor Council (UTLC) meeting on April 20 that Mobil is attempting to implement the same maintenance standards, that killed two workers at Longford in Victoria two years ago and left the state without gas for a week. The bosses call this "risk management". The workers call it "el cheapo maintenance".
Curry went on to detail dangers to the environment if an accident happened, as the plant is close to the sea and residential areas. He revealed that Mobil planned to bring 24 scabs in by helicopter, with 12 to work alternate 12 hour shifts, another six to stay in a hotel in Adelaide and another six to stay in Sydney. He said that Mobil was prepared to spend a lot of money to outsource high tech maintenance and get rid of militant unionised workers.
A former worker at the refinery told Green Left Weekly that new staff have to wear a green stripe on their safety helmets for the first six months so that more experienced workers can readily identify them. He explained that it was an extremely dangerous workplace and was amazed to discover that management was planning to bring in a completely new workforce.
The UTLC voted unanimously to express support for the Port Stanvac workers, condemned the company for union busting and condemned the federal and state governments' support for those tactics. Curry will give an update on the Port Stanvac struggle at the anti-corporate tyranny lunch-time rally on May 1. [See Activist Calendar on page 15 for details].