Unity wins on site at Iplex
After months of negotiations, Iplex members in Reservoir have won a deal – “and we got a frigging lot” – says delegate Mick Perry.
Mick has been negotiating agreements for NUW members for twenty years, and says this was the hardest yet.
“The company just didn’t live up to its word. They would stand in front of us and say one thing, and then go around and do the opposite. There was just no trust”
Negotiations started badly when the company reneged on an offer to restore all union rights, which had been stripped away under the Howard years.
“This didn’t sit right with us”, says Mick. “These were our rights, built up over so many years.”
Secondly, the members were determined to do something about the rights of casuals on site, but the company refused to have the casuals as part of the site agreement at all.
“In the old days you got made permanent after three months, but now, with the labour hire agencies, people are hanging around for years,” Mick said.
The members on site started the process by joining the casuals up to the union. It was interesting to see how hard both the company, and the agency fought to stop this happening.
The planned protest in April, which finally engaged the attention of Managment and the Fletchers, new owners of the company, led to a change in negotiations. Most importantly, the members were unified; casuals and permanents stuck together.
“In the end we got a decent pay rise (4%), gained some new allowances, and got all our union rights back”.
"Iplex fought very hard not to talk to the union about the rights of casuals, but in the end agreed that any casuals would have the right to be made permanent after two years, and that a number of casuals would be made permanent immediately. While this is short of a fair deal for these workers, it is a significant step forward."
Importantly, the deal also lines up the Reservoir Agreement with a number of other Iplex Agreements. “We got a step forward for the casuals”, says Mick, “and next time round, we should be able to get them the same rights as the rest of us.”
Management listen to unified workers
Iplex workers in reservoir have been trying to get a new pay deal for months. The sticking points were getting a good pay offer, making sure the Agreement protected their rights as union members, and getting modest improvements.
For months delegate Mick Perry, and Organiser Jeremy Breen hammered away, but made little progress.
In frustration, the members voted a number of times to ask Iplex senior management to intervene and put in papers for industrial action.
In the meantime, Iplex was bought by Fletchers, a New Zealand company, and when the guys heard about a visit by Fletchers senior management to the Reservoir site – it was too good an opportunity to miss!
Although the approval to take industrial action was still winding its way through the courts, members were determined to mount a strong protest. Every member on site signed a petition to be presented to the new managers, and organised for the NUW barbecue trailer to come down to the front of the Iplex site. Afternoon shift came in early to help protest and welcome the new managers. The workers would then attend a barbecue out the front, which would leave the management barbecue on site a bit light on!
Just as everything was ready to be put in place, a senior Iplex manager approached Mick and asked for it to be called off. Some serious negotiations later, senior management agreed to intervene in bargaining, canvassed the outstanding issues, and agreed to sit down for some serious work to resolve the outstanding issues.
It's amazing what can be achieved when the members show their determination!
