Niko Leka, Newcastle
Twenty-seven maintenance workers employed by Boeing at the Williamtown RAAF base north of here have been locked out by the company since June 1 for refusing to sign new individual contracts. The workers, all members of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), want Boeing to sign a collective agreement, after trialing individual contracts for four years.
On November 17, I spoke with Rom Orzeszko, one of the locked out workers at the picket outside the Williamtown RAAF base. We talked a little about the television campaign, featuring two 30-second commercials funded by the AWU, which began being aired that night on Newcastle's commercial TV networks.
Orzeszko stressed that the workers wanted a collective agreement negotiated by a union, but they also wanted to know how their pay was calculated. "We don't know what our hourly rate is, what our penalties and allowances are. Every time we ask they say it's all part of your salary."
As a nurse I can work out how much I will be paid from the shifts I have done. I was puzzled. Orzeszko patiently explained that Boeing's maintenance contract with the federal government specified a standard 38-hour work week. "But we were working a 40-hour week, and we had to do up to six hours of overtime a fortnight without being paid for it.
"When we asked why we were being treated differently to workers at Boeing's Bankstown base, Boeing said it was because we were the military arm, while Bankstown was domestic. What a stupid reason! When we asked about our rates, we were told that our salary was a 'total remuneration package'."
The lights went out. By the time Orzeszko had restarted the generator I had done some simple arithmetic: "That means you work roughly 25 days for Boeing, for no pay, each year. How did you come to sign such a contract?"
"If you see the contract", he replied, "you see that things are written so they can be understood in two ways. You think you're getting something, when you're not. The contract was two pages long. When I asked questions, Boeing said the full contract was only available inside, on their computer. I didn't have access to their computer! When you see it though, it goes on for pages and pages.
"We are not against Boeing. We are against the process they are using. It's unfair. This is where the community support is great.
"We had one bloke who was driven up here by his mother. He slowly got out of the car, and hobbled over to us with slippers on. He said, 'I'm dying of cancer mate, and I'm a pensioner and can only spare $5, but go the bastards, mate'. It keeps us going. How can we let people like that down? They know it's unfair."
When I asked Orzeszko about the visit by PM John Howard to the Williamtown base on November 14, he laughed: "It was futile. It was at very short notice. He didn't come to see us out here. We were allowed to send two people in to the Boeing office and see him there. They went in, and explained our case. You know what he said? He said he couldn't interfere."
I asked Orzeszko about the legal processes that started on November 16 with the NSW government lodging a submission to the state Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) on behalf of the locked-out Boeing workers. He said the commission said something should be known by the end of December, after they apply state guidelines to our case.
"The federal IRC decided to be involved after it was announced that the state IRC was taking action. I believe they can appoint a mediator to move things along. Meanwhile, Boeing has agreed to negotiate with the union on a secret ballot about a collective agreement. Yet, after negotiations they say they will never allow us to have [a collective agreement]."
It was getting late, and freezing cold. As I was saying goodbye, I remarked that the truest words I heard at the ACTU's November 15 Sky Channel meeting were spoken afterwards, by Orzeszko's workmate Matt Smith. Smith told the people who came to the Mayfield Ex-Services Club meeting, "One day, you'll have to do this, for each other".
I said that these words mean we will have to strike to support each other. This would be civil disobedience, since it is illegal to strike in support of someone else. We can only do it if we all do it. But we didn't talk about that publicly at the Sky Channel meeting. The Boeing workers were not letting the community down, but we were letting them down by not taking more forceful action.
Orzeszko replied, "Look, it's all disappointing. We haven't got immediate outcomes. But it's all good - the Sky Channel meetings were good. The unions are behind us. Even [ALP federal leader] Kim Beazley finally said he would tear up the laws the moment he gets in. And through the Sky Channel, people all over Australia got to know what we are going through, and what's in store for them.
"They've got mortgages, families, bills to pay, so it's hard for them to take action now, to go on strike and not get paid. But if they wait for the next election, it might be too late."
Help the Boeing workers stand their ground - it's our ground too. Visit them, or visit their website at [Stop press: On November 25, the AWU welcomed a decision by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to allow the secret ballot the Boeing workers have demanded to determine support for a collective agreement.]
From Green Left Weekly, November 30, 2005.
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