Stuart Martin, Melbourne
The workers at Colrain's Derrimut site who have been fighting the imposition of individual contracts (AWAs) won on December 19, despite the company's use of scabs, physical intimidation and the police to attempt to break the picket line.
When the company last year forced its non-unionised permanent workers onto AWAs with pay rates fixed at $14.12, $4 lower than other Colrain sites in Victoria, the workers decided that they would rather be covered by a union agreement and notified the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). The union found that the AWAs were not only substandard but unregistered with either the Office for the Employment Advocate or Industrial Relations Commission and thus illegal.
Another issue was the lax safety on the shop floor. There were no clearly defined walkways in forklift-use areas, the pallets were unstable and even basic equipment like safety boots had not been issued.
The company refused to negotiate an agreement or fix the safety issues quickly. Instead, it sacked the union steward, prompting the other workers to walk out on December 8 and set up a picket line. On December 9, other unionists and activists from the local Union Solidarity group and the Socialist Alliance joined the picket line.
All trucks were turned away, but the labour-hire casuals remained on site. The company responded by calling more labour-hire casuals in.
Scabs drove their cars through the picket line, narrowly missed picketers, and one carload of thugs threatened AMWU organiser Fergie Eiffe with a wooden club.
When Colrain attempted to have the picket deemed unlawful, the judge made it clear he took a dim view of the thugs employed by the company and refused the application.
On December 12, the company tried to break the picket by calling in police. Still no trucks crossed the line and the police were forced to back off as nearby workplaces sent contingents to protect the picket line against police attack.
A week later, the company withdrew the AWAs and began negotiations with the AMWU and the workers for a collective agreement.
The AMWU policy of supporting members' struggles by mobilising members in other work sites, in conjunction with the solidarity of the community activists, was key in defeating this attempt to impose AWAs.
From Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006.
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