Newsletter No. 26
JANUARY 2005
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ETU combats Schindler’s AWAs Multinational Schindler Group is the world’s second largest lift (elevator) manufacturer. Workers at its South Australian plant now realise they were pretty naïve when Schindler cried poor, claiming it could not afford the terms of a new enterprise agreement. Instead, Schindler wanted Australian Work Agreements, individual contracts introduced by the miserable Howard government to screw workers and drive unions out of the workplace. Schindler’s public relations claims its human resources policy recognizes it is its employees’ know-how, skills and competence that decides its success in the market place, so how it treats its people is ‘crucial’. But since Schindler got its contracts, “they have tried to screw us over” an electrician on site told the Electrical Trades Union, which tried to negotiate an enterprise agreement with the firm, “there’s nothing tied in to these common law contracts. You lose everything”. The AWAs put electricians and other workers on call any time of the day or night. They can be made to do split shifts, do not have overtime rates, or even hourly rates — they are just paid an annual salary! At first, Schindler’s tried to ignore the ETU. Then they tried inducements and sweeteners to keep workers from trying to get a collective agreement. When that did not work they moved to punitive action, standing workers down & bringing in strikebreakers. The ETU did not win this one. Some of the locked out workers got jobs elsewhere, the remainder signed a ‘compromise’ non-union enterprise agreement (another option the Howard laws give employers) reflecting the conditions of the individual contracts. (See http://www.cepu-electrical.asn.au/etu-news/). Forced AWAs that override Enterprise Bargaining Agreements are part of the Howard agenda. Their effectiveness in destroying workers’ conditions and ability to organise is already well demonstrated. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for 2003 show EBAs delivered an average weekly wage of $1001, while AWAs delivered $741. Women on EBAs were 32 per cent better off than those without. And their take up rate is just starting to accelerate! |