Gippsland unionists locked out for six months

Underneath the enormous conveyor belts at the back of the Yallourn power station, 49 metalworkers from MEC Engineering, which is part of the Eliott group, have maintained a six-month "protest embassy" to win their jobs and entitlements back.

MEC locked the workers out on September 13 in response to a campaign of minor industrial action, such as banning overtime. The workers voted for and took the action to oppose MEC's push for a new enterprise agreement that would remove important working conditions, including salary continuance or income protection.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) delegate at MEC, John Scholtes, told Green Left Weekly that the Eliott group appointed an administrator who proposed that individual workers sign Australian Workplace Agreements, without disclosing the full details of the AWAs. After they refused to sign the dodgy AWAs, Scholtes said, the company declared the workers "self-terminated".

Workers say that MEC is asking them to rejoin the company on AWAs that would mean a major decline in working conditions. Scholtes said that the entitlements being offered to terminated workers do not even match what they were entitled to under their old agreement, and the AMWU is expected to mount a legal challenge to this.

Management has attempted to recruit scabs during the lockout, but workers at the protest embassy told GLW that this has been quite unsuccessful because other workers in the area support their battle. Some scabs do still cross the picket line, however, and people are encouraged to visit and show their solidarity with the locked-out workers at the Yallourn power station, off Old Yallourn North Road (follow the signs to MEC).

From GLW issue 701