By Simon Millar
MELBOURNE — Forty-three members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) employed at Marathon Foods in Kensington participated in their first picket line in mid-May.
Marathon Foods produces dim sims, spring rolls and other fast foods, turning over around $20 million a year and generating between $4-5 million in profit.
The workers had been trying to get the company to sign a very modest enterprise bargaining agreement. For more than six months, the employer stalled negotiations until the union took the company to the Industrial Relations Commission.
The IRC ruled in favour of the workers, granting the union protected action to pursue their claim. Protected action shields the union from prosecution under the Workplace Relations Act. When Marathon Foods showed no inclination to comply, the workers decided they had no choice but to set up a picket line on May 12.
Tensions had been mounting for months. Only a minority of workers received paid overtime, cold-weather clothing and other conditions.
In March, the supervisor switched on a machine he had ordered to be repaired, cutting a maintenance fitter's finger off and severely damaging his thumb. When the supervisor was confronted about the accident, he denied turning on the machine. It was only because several workers had witnessed the incident that he was forced to confess.
The factory has no health and safety representative and maintenance workers have been arguing for more than a year that lockout tags should be fitted to machinery.
More than 30 metalworkers from inner-city construction sites joined the picket line on May 12. For the next three days, no scabs or trucks got through. On the first day, a company truck tried to push a terrified young worker through the picket line. Each day, male workers who were part of a privileged layer of workers at the plant tried to scab.
The majority of picketers were women from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. They played the key role of convincing their fellow workers not to scab and even convinced casual cleaners to join the union.
On May 14, Marathon Foods took the union to the Supreme Court over a scab's windscreen being smashed. The company was unable to get the protected action lifted, but it did obtain injunctions prohibiting picketers from blocking the entrance or "intimidating" scabs. If the injunctions were violated, the protected action would have been lifted.
On May 15, as 11 scabs entered the site, the workers and supporting metalworkers made their disgust known. The majority of the workers stayed out and trucks were not able to cross the picket line.
The next night, the AMWU was contacted by Marathon Foods management with an offer which the workers voted unanimously to accept. The bosses have given workers a written guarantee that they will sign an enterprise agreement as soon as possible, all overtime will be shared evenly and a 6% pay rise will be granted.
On May 18, with a row of metalworkers on each side, the Marathon Foods workers marched back to work with their heads held high.