Workers win settlement at Steel-Line Doors

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE -- Seventeen Spanish-speaking workers at the Steel-Line Doors plant here have won a record settlement totalling a reported $120,000, after a hearing presided over by the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal.

The settlement, announced on August 9, included a formal apology from the employer to the workers, who had been on strike since last November over a campaign of racial discrimination against them over many months last year.

The campaign included verbal abuse, victimisation, and the threat of physical injury.

Spokesperson for the workers Jorge Rodriguez told Green Left Weekly that they were “very happy” with the result. “Our main idea was to get an apology” from the start, he said. “We hope it will be an example to other employers.

“It's clear that if you keep struggling, you can overcome problems and win in the end.”

He said the workers had received many calls of congratulations from Latin American and other migrant community groups, who have been encouraged by the campaign to fight against the discrimination facing many migrant workers.

The workers' solicitor, Joe Teixeira, said the pay-out, which amounts to $5000 for each employee plus back pay, was the largest ever ordered against a company in Queensland and one of the largest in Australia.

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