Locked out Yallourn workers dig in for the fight

Seventy five power workers at Yallourn remained locked out after four weeks as Solidarity goes to print. The workers have now set up a 24-hour protest camp near the power plant.

Locked out Yallourn workers have dug in for the fightTheir dispute with the company has dragged on for a year in the face of management’s intransigence. A non-union agreement was overwhelmingly rejected by the workforce in a secret ballot in April.

The company’s first offer to its workers after locking them out without pay actually offered a lower pay rise and less allowances than its previous offer.

This follows ongoing industrial action at the plant in an attempt to reach agreement since March, including a 24-hour strike and a series of work bans.

But only workers from one union at the plant, the CFMEU, have been locked out. Another 34 maintenance workers covered by other unions remain at work, although they are also covered by the same Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. “Given the CFMEU is doing all the heavy lifting here in this process, the onus now really is on those other unions to step up—none of them yet have sought protected action ballots,” Greg Hardy, state secretary of the CFMEU’s mining division told the Latrobe Valley Express.

The union’s key concern is securing a consultation clause, requiring the company to negotiate before any future restructuring or effort to cut jobs.

Magazine

Solidarity meetings

Latest articles

Read more

Ingham’s strikes show the way to fight for real wage rises

There was a determined and celebratory mood last Friday morning among hundreds of workers picketing the Ingham’s Burton poultry plant on Kaurna land in northern Adelaide.

Time to hunt building bosses, not ducks

Instead of talk about duck hunting, the unions should be doing something about the 50 and 60-hour weeks that are the rule on construction sites.

Melb Uni’s week-long strike for secure jobs and a real wage...

On Monday 21 August, following a half day campus-wide strike by Melbourne University NTEU members, five areas including Arts and Law went on to strike for the rest of the week.

Comments

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here