Comalco moves for bans clause
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — Boyne Smelters, owned by the giant multinational Comalco, has applied for a clause banning all strikes at the Gladstone aluminium plant, after workers walked off the job for the sixth time in as many weeks on May 31.
The company stated in the Industrial Relations Commission that no further negotiations would take place with the union covering Boyne employees, the Federated Ironworkers' Association, until the strike had ended.
The dispute at the Gladstone smelter began in April, when 90 workers were sacked with only two hours' notice.
The FIA has launched legal action against the company, alleging the retrenchments were aimed against union delegates, workers suffering the industrial disease potroom asthma and employees due to receive long-service leave entitlements.
A mass meeting of Boyne workers voted on May 31 to strike indefinitely after talks with the company broke down.
-2>Unionists at Boyne have also criticised the role of the Goss Labor government, which allegedly had prior knowledge of the impending sackings but failed to take action or to warn the union. n0>