BY STEPHEN O'BRIEN
NEWCASTLE — Metal workers, fleeced of their entitlements by the Steel Tube Pipe (STP) group of companies, have extended their picket lines from the Carrington plant of the Newcastle-based group to the luxurious mansion being constructed by one of the owners in the beach-side suburb of Merewether.
When STP was put into receivership on November 3, the 225 workers at factories in Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane found out that, as well as their jobs, $3.3 million in long service, superannuation and holiday pay entitlements and even health fund deductions are at risk.
STP company directors, Brad and Stephen Weeks, had set up over 40 shelf companies and then transferred many of their workers to these companies without assets. Some workers had been shifted between these worthless companies, without their knowledge, up to four times in recent years. Apparently the Weeks brothers had been employing this dodge long before Patrick Stevedores made it notorious on the waterfront. With this complicated set of manoeuvres the Weeks brothers have guaranteed $2 million for the family kitty should the companies end up being liquidated.
The 60 Newcastle workers rejected an offer to return to work on November 20 because it did not include any settlement for the interstate workers. They also took their protest to Sydney on November 23 and protested outside the Sydney headquarters of the National Australia Bank. The bank, however, refused to give up its status as the major secured creditor in favour of the workers' entitlements.
The picket has won strong community support with even the Brad Weeks' ex-wife, Karen Rogers, joining the picket lines.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) has asked for donations to be sent to the Steel Tank and Pipe Workers Fighting Fund, BSB: 062174, Account No. 10187530, Commonwealth Bank.