Dorf workers push company back
By Chris Spindler
MELBOURNE — After two weeks of being locked out, about 200 workers at the Email Dorf plant in Melbourne's south-east have returned to work after the company accepted most of the workers' demands.
Tony Dias, who leads the shop stewards' committee at Dorf, told Green Left Weekly that the company ignored the findings of its own survey, which found that workers did not want supervisory staff on the shop floor.
"The company organised discussions with the shop committee on developing a 'team leader concept'. It became clear the company was going ahead with or without union agreement", Dias said.
Team leaders' salaries were to be annualised, incorporating four hours' overtime a week. However, the company expected leaders to work up to eight hours of overtime a week, meaning that up to four hours would be unpaid. "The job description was essentially that of a supervisor, but with hands on, shop-floor responsibilities", Dias explained.
"After talks broke down, the company went ahead and advertised for 16 positions and selected people who were active against the union the year before ... A mass meeting decided by a vast majority (all but the 16 selected as team leaders) that Dorf workers would not cooperate with or recognise the team leaders."
During the gas crisis, the company sent letters to employees the day before returning to work stating that they must sign a form agreeing to cooperate with the team leaders. A subsequent mass meeting again voted to not cooperate, resulting in the company locking the workers out.
On October 8, an official Australian Manufacturing Workers Union picket line, endorsed by Trades Hall, was in place.
"Only the 16 team leaders and 12 others (mainly new workers) crossed the picket line. But since the start of the picket, no other worker has crossed the picket line. Virtually no trucks went in or out of the plant", Dias told Green Left Weekly.
"The support from the union and other workers was great. Money and support were starting to roll in.
"In the end our demand that the union have input into the selection of team leaders and their wages and conditions finalised by agreement was accepted", Dias said.
Dorf workers also won their claim to have one rostered day off and two annual days returned. The company agreed to a payment of $150 for all workers locked out.
"The dispute seems far from over", Dias added. "Our workers have been hassled by some of the scabs with company support. One worker was even hit by one of the scabs. So while this harassment continues, there is an uneasy feeling and the dispute may flare again."