By Bernie Brian
WOLLONGONG — Twenty-four workers at the Jervis Bay naval training base, HMAS Creswell, have been on strike since September 9. They are maintaining a 24-hour picket line in the dispute over Defence Department plans to contract out their jobs.
The Defence Department had invited tenders for gardening, catering, cleaning, firefighting and security at the base. Workers in the gardening and catering sections developed an "in house" tender related to their own areas, but were then told that for their tender to be successful they would have to include all other sections in their proposal.
A contract was then awarded to a French company, SHRM, that had tendered for all five areas.
An organiser for the Miscellaneous Workers Union told Green Left that the union should have been given the opportunity to develop a proposal for all areas. "The whole process has been grossly unfair to the union members. We were only told the rules of the game after the contract had been awarded. The gardeners and cleaners, some of whom have been there for 30 years, had developed an 'in house' option $2.5 million cheaper than the successful contractor."
It has now been revealed that SHRM is an umbrella body for five other contractors who had been given the opportunity to tender individually for the five specialist areas.
One of the main demands of the workers is that any new contractors must abide by the conditions of the award. However, the unions are having difficulty discussing the five areas collectively because SHRM is claiming responsibility only for the catering. This is despite the minister for defence claiming that SHRM was responsible for the whole contract.
The MWU organiser said, "Once you become an employee of a contractor you lose any accrued long service leave and sick leave — and that's if you're lucky to even be employed by the new contactor. Half the disputes in Wollongong at the moment involving our members are an attempt to make new contractors take on the existing work force so as to maintain some security of employment.
"Currently there are hundreds of cleaning contractors competing for tenders. If there are two contractors, both of whom are subject to the same award and same rates of pay, the only way one can undercut the other is by greater exploitation of the work force."
The organiser added, "Most of the workers involved have never been on strike, yet after five weeks morale is excellent and they are all still very determined. Donations of money and food have been coming from the public and other unions."
It is possible that the dispute will escalate in the near future with the South Coast Labour Council considering banning fuel supplies to the nearby naval base, HMAS Albatross, because it has been sending fuel to Creswell in defiance of the union picket line.