Press Release
Esselte launches assault on workers’ rights
Friday May 19, 2006
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NSW State Secretary Derrick Belan
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A Sydney stationary distribution company has launched an all-out assault on the wages and conditions of their workers.
Management at Esselte Australia, based at Minto in South Western Sydney, has boasted that it will use John Howard’s anti-worker Industrial Relations laws to the “letter of the law”, which translates to an attack on its workers’ pay and conditions.
Esselte Australia, which is owned by the giant US-based J W Childs Corporation and has an annual turnover of US$1.5 billion, has proposed individual contracts (AWAs) to their employees during negotiations for a new union Collective Agreement.
The AWAs severely cut back the conditions, allowances and penalties of Esselte workers.
Gone are Rostered Days Off, union picnic days, meal allowances and paid meal breaks. Workers will be required to work 38 hours per week averaged over 12 months (which will end any over-time) and a productivity “incentive” scheme will be introduced.
A six-month probation period will apply from commencement of the individual contract. Supervisory staff will not be paid for working any additional hours. No afternoon or evening penalty allowances will be paid. If workers are sick they must also call in the nature of their illness, and estimate, before seeing a doctor, how long they will be off work.
Added to this are even more reductions of conditions and wages, including a four-hour docking of pay should union members participate in report-back meetings.
National Union of Workers NSW State Secretary Derrick Belan said the company had long been antagonistic towards its unionised employees and this AWA offer was the final insult.
“Our members at Esselte feel betrayed and under attack from the company,” Belan said.
“This company is run by a bunch of industrial vandals who just can’t wait to attack their workers with Howard’s horrible IR laws. Esselte’s US-style of corporate bullying will harm the workers and their families. However, we will fight to protect our members at the warehouse.”
Site Organiser Mark Cochrane said that the company had a clear agenda to strip wages and conditions.
“With its WorkChoices-inspired AWA, the company will do its best to strip wages and conditions. It has been its long-held dream and because of Howard’s ‘no choice’ new laws, the company thinks it is open-season on the rights of its workers,” Cochrane said.
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Last modified 2006-05-19 11:41 AM
