Security guards attack picketers
BY BEN COURTICE
MELBOURNE — Striking workers at Gordon and Gotch in Burwood have been bashed and intimidated by management's hired security guards in a dispute over an enterprise agreement. One worker was hospitalised with broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Several security guards attacked workers who were trying to prevent goods from being loaded onto a van and taken out of the plant.
The workers, members of the Australian Services Union and the National Union of Workers, have been seeking a new enterprise agreement for five months. The company had demanded that workers accept reduced redundancy entitlements, casual and labour hire workers (at lower rates of pay), and a seven-day shift roster without penalty rates.
Workers offered to agree to the seven-day shift roster if their penalty entitlements stayed intact. Their offer was rejected by management.
The week-long picket line has been generally successful in turning trucks away from the site, but management is using other sites across town to make up some of the work. The company has attempted to take out a legal injunction to stop the picket, without success.
The unions and the workers are keen to maintain a strong picket line to avoid further intimidation and violence from the security guards. They are holding a community breakfast on May 17 from 7-9am, and are inviting all supporters to visit their line at any time. The picket is at Gordon and Gotch, Huntingdale Road near the corner of Highbury Road, Burwood.