Industrial disputes & news - 14 August 2024
Upper Lachlan Shire; Bolton Clarke; TasNetworks; ASC; LGH; Toowoomba Council; NSW Sheriffs; Cross River Rail; NSW energy companies; Wilmar; WA healthcare workers; Tully; AFP; BHP; Pernod Ricard; CFMEU
USU - Upper Lachlan Shire Council
Workers at the Upper Lachlan Shire Council (in the Southern Tablelands region of NSW) walked off the job on Tuesday 6 August with USU members from all departments taking strike action until Thursday 8 August. Workers took action in response to proposed job cuts, and the CEO of the Council not responding to the union’s questions. Earlier in the year, union members voted up a motion of no confidence in the CEO. The Industrial Relations Commission has ordered conciliation between the union and the Council. The strike action impacted waste services including transfer stations and kerbside pick-up as well as some shire offices.
ANMF Vic - Bolton Clarke
The dispute at Bolton Clarke continues with stopwork rallies being held at different Bolton Clarke sites on Fridays. The ANMF has been in negotiations with Bolton Clarke for 18 months and is seeking a minimum 4% pay increase. Bolton Clarke’s first offer was 0%, followed by an also unacceptable 2%. The ANMF commenced industrial action with “Stage 1” actions and bans in mid July, which have now escalated to bans on the assessment and admission of new clients as well as stopwork rallies. Stage 1 actions such as wearing campaign t-shirts, chalking messages on cars, talking with clients about the dispute and a ban on redeployment and administrative and non-clinical documentation bans continue.
CEPU Tasmania - TasNetworks
Workers at TasNetworks are scheduled to commence industrial action today. TasNetworks is the state owned company that manages electricity transmission and distribution across the state, and workers are angry that they are not paid the same as their mainland counterparts. As part of the protected action ballot, a number of actions were endorsed including stoppages of up to a day as well as no switching or resetting of equipment. The industrial action could result in power outages, but the union feels it has no other choice but to take action as management have refused to listen.
AMOU/MUA - Fremantle Port Authority
Fremantle Port is set to grind to a half with pilot boat operators and vessel traffic service officers due to take 48 hours strike action from 5:30am on Sunday morning (18 August). Workers have rejected an offer of 3.5% annual pay increases and an additional $1000 bonus payment in the last year of the agreement. Workers are 18% over the 3 years of the agreement. As the workers are employed by the Port they are technically public servants, and as such their wages have been suppressed by the WA Government’s wages policy since 2017 - pilot boat operators and vessel traffic service officers feel their wages have fallen behind other port workers.
AMWU SA/AWU/ETU - ASC
On Wednesday (7 August) 350 workers who maintain Australia’s submarines at Osborne Naval Shipyard walked off the job for approximately 100 hours. The dispute centres on pay - ASC workers in WA are paid 17.5% more than workers in SA. The latest pay offer from ASC - 10% - falls short of reaching parity with WA. Industrial action at ASC first commenced in May.
ANMF Tasmania - Launceston General Hospital
Nurses at Launceston General Hospital commenced industrial action last Wednesday (7 August). The industrial action took the form of the union calling an unofficial code yellow when two or more parameters were met. The parameters included staffing levels, number of ramped patients, number of patients in corridors, number of patients in ED and number of patients waiting for admission. The threshold was met at the LGH on Friday night leading to the union issuing the Code Yellow alert to media and the Health Department.
The Services Union - Toowoomba Regional Council
Workers at Toowoomba City Council rallied for the second time outside City Hall last Wednesday (7 August). Workers have been in negotiations for 4 months, and are seeking a fair wage deal and a meeting with the CEO. They have not ruled out further industrial action.
PSA NSW - Sheriffs
The court in Griffith was going to be forced to close on Monday and Tuesday (12 & 13 August) due to industrial action by NSW Sheriffs. In an escalation of the industrial campaign, all PSA members employed by the NSW Sheriffs office will be taking - sheriffs, court officers and administrative staff - will be taking a full day of strike action tomorrow, Thursday 15 August. Sheriffs are fighting for a better pay deal and have been undertaking industrial action across NSW since early July.
ETU NSW - ETEX
Workers at ETEX, a plasterboard manufacturer, kicked off industrial action on Monday (12/8). Workers are fighting for an 18% increase over 3 years. Workers are also fighting for an increase to their superannuation entitlements.
CFMEU QLD - Cross River Rail
The FWC has ordered a stop to all industrial action on the Cross River Rail job and there are reports that workers on the project have voted up an agreement put forward by CPB. I suspect I will get better detail on this over the course of the day. Stay tuned.
ETU NSW - Endeavour Energy
Endeavour Energy has gone to the FWC to argue that the ETU’s bans are threatening 1.2 million customers’ energy security and safety. The union is opposing the application with Branch Secretary Allen Hicks describing the application as a “abhorrent misrepresentation of the truth.” Workers at Endeavour have been undertaking industrial action since February causing significant delays and bottlenecks in construction and manufacturing. Workers are seeking a 24% wage increase over 3 years.
ETU QLD/AMWU/AWU - Wilmar Sugar
The Canegrowers Association has released a statement calling out both Wilmar Sugar and unions for the ongoing delays in the crush. Unions and Wilmar bosses met in the FWC for a non-binding conciliation session last week, however Wilmar rejected the recommendations arising from that process. The union has released a statement condemning Wilmar for acting in bad faith. The Canegrowers want industrial action paused while the crush is completed, and for both parties to then return to the FWC for arbitration. What the Canegrowers either don’t understand or are pretending to not understand is that the crush is the main leverage workers have in this dispute. Once the crush is over, the cost of industrial action on the employer is significantly lower. And while of course growers are frustrated by this industrial dispute, they also fail to mention that the quickest resolution would be for Wilmar to come to the table with a fair pay deal.
ETU QLD/AQU - Tully Sugar
While I was on the Canegrowers Association website I came across a media release announcing that workers had voted up a pay deal at Tully Sugar “following conciliation talks”. I can’t find any public information about the deal, so will have to keep an eye on EBA approvals in the FWC. If any one has any details… please do feel free to share. Hopefully the workers are happy with the new agreement.
HSU WA - Allied Health
Last Thursday (8 August), allied health workers and anaesthetic technicians at Perth’s Children Hospital and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital rallied together as part of their campaign for a better pay deal. The HSUWA will participate in the Public Sector Alliance public sector rally next Wednesday 21 August. If you’re in Perth - get along and show your support.
AFPA - AFP
On Monday, the AFPA announced that the AFP’s industrial action will escalate. The AFPA has written to all Federal politicians advising them that the AFP will withdraw from key locations such as the Canberra airport and Parliament House at specified times during sitting weeks. AFP cops will also withdraw from political functions and events unless they have a “significant” threat rating. Investigations into tax and NDIS crimes will also be shelved. It is anticipated that the Federal Government will use national security arguments to stop the escalation in industrial action. The dispute centres on the AFP’s dissatisfaction of being rolled into the CPSU brokered public servants’ wage deal that agreed to an 11.2% wage increase in return for increased work from home and flexibility clauses that cannot apply to cops.
ETU NSW - Transgrid & Essential Energy
Transgrid workers will today hit 38 days on their 24/7 protest at Transgrid HQ. Workers are fighting for a decent pay deal. Essential Energy workers are also in dispute walking off the job last Thursday (8/8) also in pursuit of a decent pay deal.
AWU/AMWU/ETU/MEU - BHP Pilbara
New legislation is forcing BHP back to the union negotiating table. The legislation lets unions lodge a request to bargain when an EBA has expired for less than 5 years, and the new agreement covers the same group of workers. The negotiations will cover BHP’s South Flank and Area C mines. This will be the first negotiations with BHP in almost a decade. Unions are exploring options with Rio Tinto as well. The Minerals Council have responded by claiming “It is the first step in a union power grab by unions who have boasted for years about ‘re-unionising the Pilbara’” and the Chamber of Commerce crying that it is a return to the 1980s. While personally I have grave environmental concerns about extractive industries, if mining is to continue the workers deserve a decent wage and safe conditions that only unionisation can provide.
UWU - Pernod Ricard
After 3 strikes, workers at Pernod Ricard have won a 5% wage increase backdates to 1 July 2024 and a 2% bonus payment. Workers have also won a range of improved entitlements. There will be no rest for these workers as they will immediately begin preparing for negotiations for next year’s agreement with new owners Accolade Wines.
CFMEU - The Australian Government
The Albanese Labor Government is pushing to get its legislation to put the CFMEU under administration through Parliament this week, although both the Greens and the Liberals have (very different) concerns about the legislation. The legislation is an absolute abomination trampling over things that you think law makers would hold close to their hearts like natural justice, respect for legal processes and not making the rules up as you go along. The legislation, if passed, would put every branch and the national office of the CFMEU Construction & General division under administration for 3 years. It would allow for the removal of elected officers; the termination of staff; and to change the rules of the union. It would allow members and officials to be expelled for up to 5 years, even if no union rules have been breached. The actions of the administrator would continue in effect even after the administration ends, regardless of CFMEU rules or any other provision in the act. The union will have to pay for the costs of the administration including the remuneration package for the administrator. The administrator will take control of all property and affairs and can sell off whatever they want. The administrator can also compel employees, officials, former employees and former officials to assist the administrator. Any attempts to obstruct or hinder the administrator could result in 2 years prison or big fines. Please note that this is a brief summary prepared by a worker, not a lawyer. I cannot stress how disgusting and reprehensible this is. I fear what could possibly be left of the union after 3 years under administration. Workers need to be clear that this attack on one union is an attack on us all. This says - don’t be too militant, don’t get to organised, don’t have the bosses on the run or the government will just #changetherules to sack your delegates, sell your union office and leave you unrepresented and vulnerable. Unions should all condemn this on principle. Solidarity to CFMEU members around the country.
A long week (and it’s only Wednesday)
In other union bureaucracy news: Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the HWU Diana Asmar has been removed from the National Executive and is being urged to step down from her state positions until an investigation into alleged corruption is complete. It is alleged that more that $3 million in union funds was paid to printing firms for non-existent or “ghost” services. Meanwhile allegations of “harassing behaviour” perpetrated by TWU Victorian Branch Secretary Mem Suleyman has been challenged with counter allegations that 3 officials Dissio Markos, Bill Baarini and Peter Mancuso had misled the union in the process against Suleyman, including the alleged use of fraudulent documents. Retired judge Frank Marks will investigate. And finally, Assistant Secretary of the CFMEU NSW Branch Michael Greenfield has resigned citing “weeks of sensationalised media reporting and relentless government scrutiny, which has placed unbearable pressure on his family.” Greenfield maintains his innocence in relation to bribery charges first laid in 2021.
That’s all I’ve got this week, and to be honest - I think it’s enough! There is a lot going on right now. I am going to be taking a week off from Disputes Report next week. If anything super significant happens (and that is a high likelihood!) you can find me on Twitter and Instagram. As always, if a dispute is cooking up at your workplace or in your industry - please get in touch.
In solidarity, Sarah