Rally for James Hardie workers

At noon on March 8, 50 protesters gathered outside James Hardie Industries' Pitt Street offices to express outrage at the company's decision to lock out 12 maintenance workers at its Rosehill plant in western Sydney and to strip them of entitlements.

The workers had previously staged a lawful 24-hour strike on March 5, defying the company's threat to lock them out for a week if they did so.

The company wants to strip the 12 workers of penalty rates of up to 30%, in exchange for an 8% pay rise over two years. James Hardie also wants them to give up 12 rostered days off a year for a further 2% pay rise.

The Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union say the penalty-rate payout would reduce a typical worker's wages by $53.75 a week, and the RDO payout would be equivalent to losing a further $23.60 a week. Hardie has not contested the figures.

The rally was organised by the Workers Solidarity campaign group, which stated in a media release that the company also wants to "withdraw current conditions that are crucial to the occupational health and safety of staff. One such condition is the uniform laundry service. By demanding that the workers take home uniforms potentially contaminated by asbestos, the company is putting at risk not only the workers themselves but also their families. This is significant in light of the fact that the site on which they work has been found to be heavily contaminated by asbestos."

From GLW issue 702