Sue Bolton
Some employers are salivating for an opportunity to try out the parts of the federal government's new industrial laws that fine workers for taking industrial action. Leading the charge is the Western Australian-based Total Corrosion Control, one of the contractors engaged by ALCOA in Pinjarra to erect scaffolding.
TCC has served writs on the 40 metalworkers it employs — for $28,600 in fines plus unspecified damages — for a union meeting that allegedly went over time. The workers' union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), also faces fines, totalling $220,000 plus unspecified damages.
According to WA AMWU secretary Jock Ferguson, there has been an ongoing dispute with TCC over wage rates. A memorandum of understanding with all of the contractors at ALCOA's Pinjarra plant stated that, because the workers crossed between maintenance and construction jobs, they would be paid construction rates. All the contractors except TCC agreed to pay the construction rates, which are higher than maintenance rates.
On July 21, TCC's employees took strike action for six hours. The company rushed to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and succeeded in getting a S496 order at 7.30pm that day for the workers to return to work.
Ferguson told Green Left Weekly that the workers returned to work on that night shift. There might have been two or three workers who didn't turn up on the Saturday or the Sunday because these were overtime shifts, he added, but "as far as we [the union] were concerned, we carried out our obligations in regards to the S496 order as best we could, taking into consideration the time constraints. There was certainly a return to work by an overwhelming number of the work force."
On July 26, the union organised a meeting to inform the workers of their rights and obligations under the S496 order. "This was necessary", Ferguson said, "because John Howard's new legislation is deliberately complex. It takes officials and industrial lawyers quite a considerable time to get our heads around, let alone a normal working person."
TCC alleges that the union meeting ran 15 minutes over time and is using that to prosecute the workers and the union for tens of thousands of dollars.
As well, the company docked the workers for four hours' pay. That means the employees worked for 3.75 hours for no pay. "The boss just put the workers' money in his pocket", Ferguson told GLW.
On July 28, all 40 workers and the union were served with applications to the federal court for fines under both the Building and Construction Industry Improvement (BCII) legislation and the Workplace Relations Act (WRA), plus unspecified damages for the loss of production. The employer's application also says that money paid to cover any fines imposed will be passed directly on to them.
Ferguson said that since receiving the writs the union has told TCC that the federal court application is "causing the workers a lot of stress because they are facing huge fines. They may not be able to concentrate on what they are doing ... and that could have an impact on their occupational health and safety, especially as their work is very dangerous.
"The boss has a duty of care. We wanted to know what the company's plan is to protect these workers from this health issue that it has created."
Ferguson added: "There's a growing number of employers who are demonstrating that they are prepared to use in a ruthless manner all of the resources that this government has given them, such as the BCII act and the WRA, to destroy workers' capacity to collectively bargain. Workers are not being treated with the appropriate dignity while at work.
"It is an absolutely aggressive attack on the legitimacy of the union movement and we are going to fight this vigorously. It is a huge overkill.
"This is a time when Australian workers must stand shoulder to shoulder under this huge attack by the federal government and a number of maverick employers. John Howard's legislation is again being used in an attempt to batter workers into submission, to make them subservient."
The 40 workers and the WA branch of the AMWU appear in court on August 29, the same day as the 107 WA construction workers facing similar fines. Messages of support can be emailed to <amwuwa@amwu.asn.au>.