Press Release
Workers say company AWA push is “unrelenting”
Tuesday June 26, 2007
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NUW members at Esselte in NSW are protesting their company's relentless push to force them to sign AWAs
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Striking workers at a warehouse in Sydney’s South West have described their employer’s tactics in trying to force them to sign Individual Contracts (AWAs) as “unrelenting”.
Although industrial action is now entering its second week at the Esselte Australia warehouse at Minto, workers are still being told that they have no choice – they have to sign the AWA or else.
Workers recently voted in support of a Collective Agreement, claiming that the AWA offered by the company was inferior. The AWA cuts penalty loadings and over-time.
“The AWAs being offered are a backward step for us. We’ll lose up to $50 per week,” Esselte worker Dave Rojas said.
“Our employer is not listening – we want to stay on a Collective Workplace Agreement. We do not want to go onto AWAs. The pressure from the company is unrelenting.”
This is the second time management of Esselte has tried to force workers onto AWAs.
In June 2006, the company offered workers Individual Contracts, which were rejected. The company then made accusations to the Office of Workplace Services (OWS) that the NUW tried to “coerce” workers not to sign the AWAs. A subsequent investigation cleared the union of any such allegations.
“What this company can’t seem to understand is that these workers do not want to be placed on AWAs. The workers can count. They know they will be worse off under these individual deals,” NUW spokesperson Mark Ptolemy said.
“Besides the lack of any financial benefit for the workers, they have made a democratic choice not to accept Individual Contracts because they simply do not believe in non-collective contracts. However, the company refuses to respect their choice.
“Under John Howard’s Industrial Relations regime, companies think they can do whatever they want,” Ptolemy said.
Workers at Esselte are also angry that representatives of the Office of Workplace Services visited the site to “inspect the picket line” and only spoke with the company.
“They completely ignored us. They didn’t even stop to say hello. They should work for the ordinary people, the taxpayers, not big business,” David Rojas said.
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Last modified 2007-06-26 12:07 PM
