Thiess in bid to sack union members and slash workers’ conditions

IN EARLY June Thiess Services sacked four union members for pushing a union collective agreement with the company.
The CFMEU construction union is calling on the company to reinstate the sacked workers and to engage in enterprise bargaining negotiations in good faith.
CFMEU Acting Secretary Malcolm Tulloch said the company was trying to rush through its sub-standard agreement before new workplace laws came into effect on July 1.
The proposed non-union agreement takes away rostered days off and forces workers to use up annual leave when equipment fails—in exchange for a measly 1 per cent pay increase.
This is in spite of this building site being one of Australia’s most toxic and sacked workers being long-term workers for the company. After firing four union members demanding a union agreement, the company has pushed through a non-union agreement and hired replacements.
Sacked union delegate Nigel Gould said “they are evidently trying to take away our basic human right to be a part of a union and have a union. It is unfair dismissal. We are going to continue campaigning and momentum is growing”.
The CFMEU and the sacked workers will be protesting outside the Thiess site at 42 Walker Street, Rhodes in Sydney until their demands are met.
There are having protest actions every Thursday and a preliminary hearing in their legal campaign against the dismissal will occur on August 10.
The legacy of the Howard years evidently lives on in this unfair dismissal, alongside Rudd’s continuation of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), which attacks union organising on construction sites.
There should be immediate re-instatement of sacked workers, with rights to fair wages and entitlements through a union agreement.
By Feiyi Zhang

Magazine

Solidarity meetings

Latest articles

Read more

Grill’d strike sees young workers fight low pay and bullying bosses

Fast food workers at the popular burger chain Grill’d took strike action last Friday, rallying outside the Flinders Lane store in Melbourne CBD to demand fair wages and better conditions.

Labor panders to big business with productivity push

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declared “productivity” a centrepiece of the Labor government’s second term agenda.

Striking mental health workers put Victorian Labor on notice

Up to 500 public mental health workers across Victoria held a statewide strike on 17 June, demanding that Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan deliver fair pay and urgent reform to the state’s overwhelmed mental health system.