Workers draw line at Godfrey Hirst

BY TIM GOODEN

GEELONG -- A two-week strike at the Godfrey Hirst carpet factory looks set to escalate this week with textile workers likely to join members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) on strike for better pay and conditions.

The two unions are fighting for a 15% pay increase over two years and nine months, and restrictions on the contracting out of maintenance. The unions' claims are part of the manufacturing industry-wide Campaign 2000.

The strike became bitter when workers set up picket lines outside the plant's two gates on August 18, slowing down and stopping trucks trying to enter. The company has threatened union shop stewards with fines of up to $200,000 for threatening production and has unsuccessfully sought injunctions against further picketing.

In response, AMWU and ETU representatives approached the Transport Workers Union and obtained a commitment from its members not to enter company grounds. Godfrey Hirst's trucking company, McColls, has overcome this by hiring non-union drivers to transport goods into the site. The company is also bringing workers in from its other plant to do the strikers' jobs.

AMWU shop steward Barry Slaven in hopeful. He told Green Left Weekly that his union has spoken to 800 textile workers still working in the plant. Their enterprise agreement is up this week, he said, “and they reckon they'll end up out here with us”.

“With [AMWU state secretary] Craig Johnson coming over here next week and the textile workers out, the whole thing could take on a new turn and be a great boost to Campaign 2000”, Slaven said.

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