By Tim Gooden
CANBERRA — A long-running dispute between the Transport Workers Union and concrete company Ready Mix came to a head recently when police were used to arrest union officials.
According to Trevor Santi, ACT branch secretary of the TWU, the dispute centres on the company's refusal to enter into an enterprise agreement, leaving workers lagging behind on pay increases and conditions.
The TWU served the owner of the company, Tom Elvin, with a log of claims last November in an attempt to increase wages and conditions in line with other workers in the industry. The TWU was unsuccessful in an initial negotiation, while the company was encouraged by the Master Builders Associations not to cooperate with the union.
In January, the TWU established a picket line. Within an hour police arrived and ordered the vehicles blocking the gate to be removed.
The picket was re-established the next day. The police arrived, arrested the union organiser and charged him with offences under the Motor Traffic Act. Since January 23, the police have been called to the picket line on at least seven occasions and threatened to arrest union officials and organisers.
Union members supporting the action decided not to continue the dispute, explaining to the union later that they had been intimidated and threatened with violence and the sack.
Santi told Green Left Weekly: "No union worth its salt would walk away from workers that were being intimidated, so we parked across the gate again". This continued until the Australian Industrial Relations Commission hearing last week, at which the commissioner supported the union's right to take protected action.
Santi said that workers "are continuing to take protected industrial action, and we will not stop until such time as we get a reasonable wage increase".
Santi explained that if the workers did not get a wage increase, "They would not only be living on a substandard wage, but they would also be seen as scabs, competing against other members in the same industry".
The building trades group — led by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union — has supported the TWU. It has a policy of "no police on site" — if an employer calls the police, then the job closes for two days.
Santi said, "In relation to the new Industrial Relations Act, the TWU believes that it is business as usual, and we will use appropriate militant action against any employer who fucks around with our workers".