Friday 6.00am - 7.00am
November 3
Opposite Feltex Head Office
35-65 Paramount Road
Tottenham

FEXTILE WORKERS TO BE PUT ON AWAs AT FELTEX CARPETS

TCFUA PRESS RELEASE
Textile Workers Suffer AWA Carpet Burn
A group of the 300 textile workers who are being told they must sign AWAs to have a job met today and spoke out about their plight.

The workers who are members of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) are employed by Feltex Australia Pty Ltd, a carpet company recently placed into receivership by the ANZ Bank who are owed approximately $130 million. The receivers have signed a contract of sale to sell the company to a Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd subsidiary shelf company.

Feltex receivers have advised the 300 production workers' union, the TCFUA, that Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd intends to require the workers to sign individual contracts (AWAs) as a condition of them maintaining their current jobs with the new company.

If they refuse to sign the AWAs they will have no jobs and be paid none of their redundancy entitlements.

Michele O'Neil, State Secretary of the TCFUA, said today, "Godfrey Hirst plans to exploit John Howard's Workchoices legislation by stripping away 300 workers' current rights and protections under a collective Union agreement."

"Feltex workers and their families have already had to suffer extreme insecurity over the future of their jobs and entitlements. Many of our members are migrant women workers who have worked a lifetime for this company. Now, when they are at their most vulnerable, the choice they are being threatened with under Workchoices is to sign away their rights in an AWA or have no job and no redundancy pay. So much for existing conditions being 'protected by law' through the Workchoices transmission of business provisions."

The company offering the AWAs is a subsidiary shelf company of Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd. The Godfrey Hirst group are the makers of Hycraft, Carisse and Godfrey Hirst carpets. They are purchasing Australia's other largest carpet manufacturer, Feltex Australia, who are the makers of Invicta, Redbook, Minster, Kensington and Feltex carpets.

Ms O'Neil said, "The company gave an ultimatum to the Union to either agree to radically change workers' rights and conditions or the workers would be made to sign AWAs to keep their jobs. I want to ask the Prime Minister what choice do low paid, hard working textile workers have faced with this type of corporate strategy."

more info: TCFUA 9639 2955 | Maree Keating 0439 567 554 | Dorothy Peterson 0419 587 069

All work came to a halt at the Port Campbell Woodside Gas Plant construction site on Friday 20 October 2006, as over 300 members of Union Solidarity and the general local community rallied in a community assembly that stopped all traffic from entering or leaving the site.

This action was taken by the community in support of site workers who have been victimized by Colin Milne, an IR consultant and renowned union head kicker, who was hired by the company because the site was behind schedule. Milne's reputation is a cause for concern, as he was the IR consultant on another petro chemical construction site that carried out unsafe work practices, one incident resulting in a number of workers suffering from gas poisoning.

In its two year history, the Woodside site has not been subject to any industrial action as the previous management negotiated agreements that were acknowledged to be fair as well as supporting safety for all workers on the site. The company hired John Kint to help speed up the construction process, and Kint brought Milne on board to help him. Workers at the site protested to management when they heard that Milne had been hired, but they were ignored.

Needless to say, Milne makes big dollars for consulting. And, since Milne started at the site, he has forced redundancies on around 150 workers (60 of whom are ETU members). He has also threatened to get rid of another 10 electricians every week unless they agree to work a 6 day week. Presumably, the longer working week is to make up for the labor lost because of the 150 redundancies.

Milne also got rid of a CFMEU shop steward after he had a confrontation with the man. The man's employer, a subcontracted company, did not want to let the worker go as he was a valued employee. Milne, however, made it clear that he would hire another sub contracting firm to replace them if they did not stand the worker down. Milne then removed the worker's entry pass so that he could not access the site. The CFMEU offered counseling, an independent mediator of Milne's choice, and a hearing in the Industrial Relations Commission in order to get the man reinstated. Milne refused.

Milne's actions appear to be less concerned with the company's desire to meet targets, than they are concerned with his desire to ensure that his workers and the subcontracting companies are non-union.

On the day, some workers had already entered the site before the community assembly took place. These workers were threatened with fines of up to $28,000 if they left the site in sympathy. When the community realized this was the case, public outcry forced management to reconsider their stance and the workers left the premise to a standing ovation.

The effort was a success. The community sent a loud message to the company that men like Colin Milne are not welcome and will not be tolerated on construction sites in the Australian community, proving that Australians will fight to ensure that our country is the lucky country for all workers.