United Voice

In this issue:

1. Members confident after winning Tip Top agreement

2. Members win pay on down days at car parts manufacturer

3. Members reject pay freeze and win

4. Brewery members fighting for job security

5. Stepping up for a strong voice on site

Dear member,

LHMU members may work across different manufacturing industries, but we are united by common issues.

With the economy in trouble at the moment, job security and decent pay are vital.

As you’ll see in this e-news, members have made smart – and sometimes tough – decisions about what they want to win in difficult economic circumstances.

At car parts factory Hella, better job security was the big win. At Tip Top, members voted up a shorter agreement to get through the tough times while making major improvements in their pay and conditions.

At the May convention, manufacturing delegates came together to talk about what we want our union to look like in the future.

Across industry sectors like paint, building products, bread, laundries, and beverages the answers were strikingly similar.

Delegates at different sites and different companies want to work together on an industry-wide basis.

They want to meet together, train together, and campaign together.

Delegates are supporting each other in bargaining campaigns because they know that when other factories are lifted up, they set a new standard in the industry.

When everyone’s pay and working conditions are better, we make it harder for bosses to undercut competitors by underpaying us. Instead, companies need to compete on quality.

That is what we want to see, because LHMU members take great pride in what they produce, and want to be rewarded for their commitment.

Delegates have already started working together to make industry wide improvements.

By standing together as an industry, we have the power to make real change in our jobs and our lives.

Jess Walsh
Secretary,
LHMU Victoria

1. Members confident after winning Tip Top agreement

Membership growth was the key to winning a strong new agreement at bread manufacturer Tip Top, delegates say.

Dandenong delegate Michael Daley (pictured, second from left)  said the agreement was the strongest they have won in a long time.

‘The big change for us is that most people at Tip Top are members now. We haven’t been strong like this for a long time.’

‘We had more delegates representing us than we’ve had in the past so there was a bigger commitment to ensure that we achieved what we were aiming for.’

The new agreement, which covers the three Victorian Tip Top sites, includes a committee of members that must be consulted before any changes can be made.

Improvements to annual, long service and sick leave are “fantastic”, said delegate Ben Good (pictured, second from right).

Along other important conditions, and a strong pay rise, these changes were won by members coming together and ‘everyone actually being more vocal and having more of a voice’.

Now the members at Tip Top have seen the power of standing together and winning they are looking forward to fighting for an even better agreement next time.

‘We are confident of winning stronger agreements in the future,’ said Ben.

2. Members win 50% pay on down days at car parts manufacturer

Members at car parts manufacturer Hella have won a new agreement to protect their jobs as Australia’s car industry struggles through the economic downturn.

Long-time delegate Jim Madhawan said the two-year agreement took a long-time to reach because the company maintained that no employees would have a pay rise in the first year.

‘None of us will get a pay rise so that the company can survive. At the end of the day, we can accept that because of the financial crisis, we needed to secure jobs.’

‘But the next EBA will definitely be different. In the next one we will be asking for what we should be asking for.’

Members stood strong together to protect their conditions, and won 50% pay for up to ten down-days a year as the company waits for the economy to improve.

‘You’re not giving us nothing this year, we said, you have to come to the party and give us that. We also won a 3% pay rise in the second year,’ Jim said.

‘The members are happy to have won those things.’

Other conditions that members won under the agreement include longer maternity leave, improved bereavement leave, and a $500 good faith payment from the company.

Jim said everyone is hoping demand for cars will pick up soon.

3. Members reject pay freeze and win

Members at Dandenong food manufacturer Terra Harvest twice rejected a proposed pay freeze before they won a strong new agreement with solid annual pay rises.

Delegate Noel Doravelu said members stuck together and refused to accept the pay freeze.

They were determined to win annual pay rises over their three-year agreement.

‘We all stuck together, that’s what made us win,’ Noel said.

‘We’re happy with what we got. We fought hard for it.’

4. Brewery members fighting for job security

Members at Carlton United Brewery are not letting the company use the recession as an excuse to give them sub-standard pay rises.

Despite posting half-year profits of $411m, the company cried poor when it came time to negotiate with members.

Delegate Dominic Fountain said there was no way the 240 LHMU members would accept the ‘paltry wage increase’ that CUB has offered.

‘The last 18 years we’ve got 5% a year. This time they have offered 3%, 3% and 3% over 3 years.”

‘The company put out a certain amount of propaganda saying it was a fair wage deal.’

‘The fact of the matter is that the average wage increase across industries is 4.6% a year,’ Dominic said.

‘It’s a profitable company. Their profits are going up each year. It’s not as if they are being affected by the recession.’

Members are also refusing to give up hard won conditions, and are pushing for improved health and safety conditions under the new agreement.

‘The company has told us it’s not going to continue Income Protection Insurance. We fought long and hard to win this and now they want to scrap it. And we’re going to fight hard to retain it; it may take a different form in the new agreement but we’re not going to give up on it,’ Dominic said.

In the current economic climate, job security is also a major issue.

Recently about 100 maintenance workers lost their jobs when Foster’s outsourced them. Management is trying to cut staff numbers and increase workloads and duties on the production lines. Members have slammed Foster’s double standards, whose executives have received bonuses and massive salaries. 

‘The only growth area on the production floor is ‘experts’ telling us how we should work harder, and then they insult us with a 3% pay offer,’ one member said.

Members are determined to ensure greater job security is built into their agreement.

‘We don’t think it’s unfair to ask for job security for an industry that’s so profitable and growing,’ Dominic said.

CUB knows that members will stick together and do whatever is needed to ensure they get a fair deal.

‘We’re just continuing to negotiate. People here are prepared to take action if they have to, but they would prefer not to,’ Dominic said.

5. Stepping up for a strong voice on site

Unibic bakery member Jenny Watson only stepped up to become delegate recently, and already she has signed up five new members.

‘We needed someone to be able to speak up for us when they need help. We’ve never had a delegate on the afternoon shift before. It’s good to have a voice on our shift to make sure the company does the right thing by us.’

Jenny (pictured, third from left) said being together in the union was more important than ever with the economy in trouble.

‘We all lean on each other. We are like a family. We all agreed we need to be in the Union.’

‘You look after family, and I wanted to make sure we were all getting looked after.’

Recent training with delegates from other bakeries has been vital in learning more about her role.

‘It was really interesting to listen to other people and the problems they’ve come up against on their sites and how they dealt with them,’ Jenny said.

‘It prepared me more for when something happens. I learnt what I could do in my role as a delegate. It was really interesting,’ Jenny said. 

‘It makes us stronger if we are all together in the union. If it’s just a couple of us we can’t change anything, but if we’re all together and united, we’ll have the power to change things. If we have everybody in the union they won’t be able to ignore us, they’ll have to stop and listen because our union is strong.’