BY PAUL BENEDEK
SYDNEY — "We were sacked for joining the union of our choice, a union which would actually stand up for our rights, not sit with management", says factory worker Linh Nguyen of the bitter dispute at Metroshelf, in Sydney's south-west suburb of Revesby, which has entered its fifth week.
The dispute follows the sacking of 72 workers since May 28, who had given a combined 350 years of their life to the company. Linh Nguyen had worked there for close to six years, others as long as 18 years.
The dispute had been brewing for some time, with workers getting increasingly frustrated with the cosy relationship between their union, the Australian Workers Union, and management.
The turning point came when the workers found out that the AWU had not even had their enterprise bargaining agreement of two years ago certified with the industrial relations commission. In March the majority of workers left the AWU for the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU).
On May 25 Linh Nguyen, the workplace delegate, supplied the floor manager with a list of the workers who had gone across to the AMWU. When the workers turned up for work on Monday they found the gates locked and were told that fifty of them had been sacked. Twenty-two of their workmates refused to go back to work in solidarity; they too have now been sacked.
Around 20 workers (mostly the remnant AWU membership) have continued to work and 55 casuals from the labour hire company Workforce International have supplemented them.
Metroshelf claims the first 50 were sacked because of poor productivity and a downturn in business and, incredibly, that they did not even know the union membership of the sacked workers.
On June 27 the full bench of industrial relations commission will hand down a decision on the AMWU's claim of unfair dismissal.
Despite the fact that the AMWU has not tried to block scabs' access to the plant, Metroshelf has been quick to turn to the anti-union protections in the Workplace Relations Act. On June 19, Metroshelf went to the Supreme Court seeking an injunction banning the workers' picket line camped outside the front gates.
While the company was unsuccessful, they did succeed in getting the AMWU to sign an undertaking not to block access to scabs or "intimidate" them in any way.
AMWU delegates Linh Nguyen and Thanh Nguyen told Green Left Weekly that even before they were fired, Metroshelf treated them with contempt.
"It was very hot in summer, sometimes more than 45 degrees," said Linh Nguyen. "When we complained, the general manager would say that it is under 40 degrees at Bankstown airport ... but that was in the open, in the factory it was far hotter."
The workers' calls for help to the AWU were not heeded. According to Linh Nguyen, "after calling the AWU, they wouldn't come. Ray Sparke [the AWU organiser] said he'd call Workcover to do an inspection, but we never saw anyone from Workcover."
He explained that the AWU had a very close relationship with Metroshelf management. "Whenever Ray came, he'd speak to the manager first, not the delegates. When new workers started at Metroshelf who were members of the AMWU, the general manager would ask them to join the AWU, saying they would get more money. They would even put on beer and chicken, like a party, when workers joined the AWU."
The Metroshelf workers came up with a nickname for Ray Sparke: "Mr Law".
Thanh Nguyen explained, "Whenever we'd have a complaint, he would say 'you have to work, it's the law, you have to do this, it's the law'."
Linh Nguyen says that the AWU kept the workers' expectations very low. "When the boss refused a pay rise to workers who operated machines, Ray would not back us up for the pay we're entitled to. When workers receive the standard 30% allowance for night shift, Ray would say 'you are very lucky'."
With their frustration mounting, the workers raised with Sparke their thoughts of joining another union. Linh Nguyen says they were shocked by Sparke's response: "Fuck you, I don't care".
Workers met with AMWU organisers and a majority joined the union. They say that management and the AWU told them that if they joined the AMWU they would lose $40 a week and miss out on a pay rise in July.
Thanh Nguyen said the company also claimed it had paid the AWU dues out of its own coffers, and implied that AMWU dues would be extra, when in fact the money going to the AWU was the workers'. The workers stuck with the union of their choice.
According to AMWU organiser Bruce Campbell, the AWU's mistreatment of the workers didn't stop when they left the union.
"When Sparke appeared at an industrial relations commission hearing, he argued against the reinstatement of the sacked workers, even with four of the workers from his own union", Campbell told Green Left Weekly. "The AWU has encouraged its workers to cross the picket line and has supported the labour casualisation."
Metroshelf continues to treat the workers with disdain. The company has applied a foul-smelling fertiliser to company gardens, less than a metre from the workers' picket, where many workers are also spending the night.
A visitor will note straight away that while all the sacked workers are Vietnamese-Australians, many of the scabs are Anglo-Australian. There is speculation that Metroshelf is manipulating racism against the workers.
Thanh Nguyen commented, "In my area, the paint line, every Vietnamese-Australian was sacked, but a white guy who'd only been permanent for one month was retained."
He pointed out that the scabs have no guarantees. "They'll get sacked soon. We worked there for up to 18 years, and look how the boss treated us. It will be the same for them."
Linh Nguyen and Thanh Nguyen are glowing in their praise for the community support they have received.
"We appreciate it a lot. We've had many Socialist Alliance members, Fairfield Councillor Thang Ngo, Bankstown Councillor Nhan Tran, Transport Workers Union and National Union of Students delegations." says Thanh Nguyen. "We hope many people will visit our picket."
At 6am on June 18 around 50 Socialist Alliance members and other community supporters gathered for a speakout, which developed, into a spontaneous hour and a half blockade of the gates.
"While access was only blocked for a while it was a symbolic victory and boosted everyone's spirits", commented the Socialist Alliance's Sam Wainwright. "Importantly we showed the workers that if they decide to block access there are supporters out there prepared to back them up."
Speaking of the importance of the dispute, Wainwright, of the alliance's Burwood group, said, "Sure this may not be a big one like the waterfront dispute but all the issues facing the union movement are there: the push for casualisation of the workforce, the anti-union laws and the fact that other workers are facing similar if not worse situations in small to medium factories across Sydney."
He believes community support still needs to increase.
"These workers have already gone four weeks without pay. The really urgent thing is getting the word out, broadening the base of support so they can fight on."
The Metroshelf plant is on Daisy Street, Revesby. Supporters are welcome to visit.