Graham Matthews
The workers' rights lobby group Unite, which formed in Melbourne in 2003 to "name and shame" dodgy bosses in the retail and fast-food industry, relaunched itself as an unregistered union on May 30.
"The fast-food and retail industry is largely unorganised. You'd be lucky if 20% of the workers in the industry would currently be union members", Unite secretary Anthony Main told Green Left Weekly. "We've taken inspiration from the Unite union in New Zealand. They've been running the very successful 'Supersize My Pay' campaign, which has led to significant victories for fast-food workers."
Unite, formed as a company in Victoria, will not be registered in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Its organisers will not have the right to enter workplaces (in contrast to the New Zealand Unite), but under Work Choices legislation it will have the legal right to represent workers as a bargaining agent with employers.
Main believes that the informality of Unite is its strength. "When you look at how they've won in New Zealand, it hasn't been through the courts or some sort of government decision. It's been through direct action and hitting the bosses at the point of production", he argues. "They're some of the same techniques we plan on using."
On right of entry to workplaces, Main said "it's not really a major concern" for Unite. "It's not like trying to get access to a construction site or trying to get past a factory gate. Restaurants are open to the public, so we don't consider right of entry to be a problem." He conceded, however, that given the considerable bullying and intimidation faced by young workers, Unite would concentrate on recruiting young workers outside of workplaces — at university and TAFE campuses, and high schools.
Unite supported the June 1 student strike against Work Choices called by Resistance and is building the ACTU-initiated national day of action on June 28.
While acknowledging that Unite is a challenge to unions currently covering retail and fast-food workers, Main argues that Unite is not in competition with them. "Although the SDA [Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association] is a massive union with in excess of 200,000 members, it has barely scratched the surface", he said. "These industries are phenomenally big and there's plenty of room for another union to cover fast-food and retail."
Unite has received expressions of interest from across Australia. "Once we get ourselves established, we'd like to enter into discussions with local trades and labour councils, and we want to develop a good relationship with existing unions, particularly around Victoria", Main concluded.
Unite can be contacted at (03) 9639 9111 or visit <http://www.unite.org.au>.
From Green Left Weekly, June 7, 2006.
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