BY SAM WAINWRIGHT
SYDNEY — Striking workers picketing the production plant of Metroshelf, which builds supermarket shelving, were sacked en masse on June 15 — but have vowed to fight on.
The strike, at the plant in Revesby, in Sydney's west, began when 50 workers were sacked on May 28, allegedly because of poor productivity and a downturn in business. All the evidence suggests, however, that the real reason was the decision by a majority of the workforce to join the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU).
The workers had been members of the Australian Workers Union (AWU) but, dissatisfied with its poor performance and close relationship with management, switched allegiance to the AMWU in late May.
One working day after the workplace delegate supplied the manager with a list of workers who had gone across to the AMWU (over 70% of the workforce), workers turned up to the plant to find the gates locked and 50 of them sacked. Twenty-two of the workers who weren't sacked refused to go back to work in solidarity with the others.
The AMWU immediately lodged an unfair dismissal claim with the Industrial Relations Commission.
Around 20 workers, mostly the remnant AWU members, have kept working in accordance with a direction from the AWU. AWU official Ray Sparke argued in the commission against the reinstatement of the sacked workers.
On June 7, management brought in 55 casual workers from the labour hire company Workforce International in an effort to keep production running, although a handful walked away when they realised they were being roped in to a scabbing operation.
Some picketers claim that management are also encouraging racist notions among the scabs. Most of them are young white workers with little idea of what they have been sucked in to, while all of the sacked workers are Vietnamese Australians. On June 15 the workers and their supporters had to endure one scab making a Nazi salute, while shouting "long live White Australia".
In negotiations, management had made it clear that it wanted to keep those striking workers who had not been sacked because of their experience.
On June 14, management offered to nominally reinstate the sacked workers while negotiating the terms of their redundancy, if the striking workers returned to the job. A meeting of the workers outside the factory gates unanimously rejected this offer. The next day, all the striking workers were sacked.
Despite three hearings the IRC has yet to announce when it will deliver a final determination on the unfair dismissal case. The slow process has played into the hands of Metroshelf management, as the workers are now in their fourth week without pay or job certainty.
Fearing the fines and court injunctions made possible by the federal government's Workplace Relations Act, AMWU officials have been reluctant to block the entrances to scabs and delivery trucks.
But the workers themselves are willing to escalate their action when they get the union's go-ahead.
The Metroshelf workers have appealed for community support, which they will need if they are to win.
The Burwood branch of the Socialist Alliance has backed their call for people to join the picket line, and 20 members attended on the morning of June 15. The Socialist Alliance has urged even greater numbers to attend, to make a community blockade of the site possible.
The Metroshelf plant is on Daisy Street, Revesby. Supporters are welcome to visit.