BY GRAHAM WILLIAMS
GEELONG — Production workers at the Godfrey Hirst carpet factory are one of the first groups of workers in the country to win a trust fund that guarantees all their entitlements if the company goes bankrupt.
The Manusafe trust fund will ensure that the workers will receive their owed annual leave, long service leave, and guarantee a redundancy package of three weeks' pay for each year of service with the company.
The company is to put 1% of wages into the fund each week. The fund will be controlled independently of the company to prevent workers entitlements being used in the running of the business as occurred at One.Tel and Ansett.
The workers, who are members of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA), won the trust fund as a part of their enterprise agreement without having to make a concession on a wage rise. Backdated to September 2001, the workers will receive a 5% wage rise in the first year of the agreement, followed by 4% in the second year and 4.5% in the third year of the deal.
The 450 Godfrey Hirst workers won the agreement on February 7. The agreement at Godfrey Hirst is similar to that won at Shaws, another carpet factory, in December after 13 weeks of rolling stoppages.
"It was a long, hard struggle", said shop steward Brett Anderson. "Some workers found it difficult to handle the financial strain of having a reduced pay packet each week. However, out of the 500 workers at the factory, only around 20 worked when others were on strike."
The TCFUA consciously involved its members in the negotiations with the bosses, holding weekly mass meetings.
From Green Left Weekly, February 20, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.