Sue Bull, Geelong
Trades halls and labour councils throughout regional Victoria are mobilising their members for big rallies in November against the federal Coalition government's proposed industrial relations laws.
There will be community protest rallies in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Warrnambool and Albury/Wodonga on November 15 and in Portland on November 16. Latrobe Valley is running buses from eight towns to the Melbourne rally on November 15.
Many areas will attend the ACTU Sky Channel hook-ups first and then meet to march through their towns. In Geelong, weekly stalls are being organised to hand out leaflets and explain why everyone should get to the rally. Banners are being painted to hang above Melbourne Road and outside the hospital to advertise the rally. Geelong Trades Hall is also organising to train rally marshals and chant leaders.
According to Tim Gooden, Geelong Trades Hall Council secretary, the rallies promise to be the biggest in many years. "A lot of country workers are really worried about what these new laws will mean for them. Phone calls to our office have tripled in the last six months. Most of the complaints are about unfair dismissals, underpayment of wages and casual or part-time entitlements. At the moment we take between 12 and 20 phone calls per day, mostly from non-union members. We advise them and refer them to Wageline, but there is little protection for them or recourse until they join a union. Clearly many employers already think they can get away with murder."
Similar problems have been experienced in other regional areas. National Tertiary Education Union members at the University of Ballarat have only just defeated a proposal for a non-union agreement put forward by their administration (see article on page 6). And now Oliver Footwear, Australia's largest producer of industrial and safety footwear, also in Ballarat, is attempting to do the same. Oliver's non-union agreement removes many existing rights and conditions from its workers. Oliver previously made a commitment to negotiate an agreement with the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union but has now broken this agreement, according to unionists.
Gooden said he has come across some really outrageous cases in the last few weeks. One was of a 16-year-old woman who was given no choice but to sign an AWA (individual contract) so that she could work at a well-known bakery chain. She was rung by her employer and asked to attend a training session within the next five minutes. She was unable to attend as her parents were not available to drive her and there was no public transport. The next time she attended work, she was sacked on the spot for not attending the training. When her parents went to see the employer, they were ordered off the premises.
"It's just classic", said Gooden. "Employers want young workers so they can pay them less and exploit them more. But young workers don't have car licences and things like that so they are not as flexible in some ways as older workers. Consequently, young workers are just seen as dispensable when they no longer fit the bill.
"The most appalling cases tend to be where there is no organised union presence. One worker from a maintenance firm rang the other day to say that everyone at his workplace had previously been paid $26 per hour all-inclusive plus superannuation. Recently their employer told them they would be paid $20 per hour. No reasons were given and the employer refused to enter into further discussion.
"Another had worked for a glass firm for one week. When he couldn't fulfil his contract due to family commitments, he gave a week's notice. But the boss said he might as well leave immediately. When the worker checked his bank account he found he had not been paid for the week's work. The boss said he didn't have to pay as the worker hadn't given a week's notice."
Gooden said that on one day he took 12 phone calls from non-union members working in a variety of small businesses. All had the same complaint: their employers were trying to make them work on a public holiday — Geelong Cup or Melbourne Cup day — but they didn't want to pay penalty rates. The employers were all trying it on as they thought that in this industrial relations climate they could get away with it.
"But perhaps the most shocking case was uncovered by a union at the Surf Coast Aged Care", said Gooden. "Cleaners and cooks were placed on AWAs six to seven years ago. They were paid a flat $18 per hour inclusive of all conditions. This meant they did not receive sick leave, annual holidays, overtime penalties or shift allowances. They were only paid for three public holidays per year. Five months ago the union went to the workplace to find that the employment advocate had approved these AWAs but after the union visited, the advocate reviewed the AWAs and ordered back pay. The workers have not seen any back pay yet and the union has been locked out, unable to do anything as the workers are on AWAs.
"Now these are just some cases from the Geelong region — can you imagine what is happening in some of the other country areas? We're not going to let the more unscrupulous employers get away with it. We're going to start having 'name and shame' days, like the one we'll have outside a well-known supermarket chain soon. This is the one that boasts how cheap their products are. Well their products are so cheap because they rip their workers off. The whole lot are on AWAs and unions are banned from the workplace!
"There are a lot of rip-offs happening at the moment, but the more workers get organised, the more likely it is that bosses will think twice and be forced to back off. That's why it's so important that these November rallies are as huge as possible!"
From Green Left Weekly, November 2, 2005.
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