Cold store workers emerge victorious

indonesia / philippines / australia | workplace struggles | news report Thursday January 13, 2011 10:32 by Dmitri (editing) - MACG - Anarkismo ngnm55 at gmail dot com

The striking cold store workers at Swift Australia have held onto the eight-hour working day and their penalty rates, after a long battle with belligerent and at times sinister management tactics.

The striking cold store workers at Swift Australia have held onto the eight-hour working day and their penalty rates, after a long battle with belligerent and at times sinister management tactics.

Swift Australia was thwarted in its attempt to move the workers from an eight- to twelve-hour working day and abolish overtime and penalty rates. Management’s sneering attitude began to change when a small line of nurses, ASU organisers and Workers Solidarity members was threatened with arrest.

The small line quickly turned into a hundred-strong cross section of the union movement, including the ACTU leadership, which refused to let trucks past until the company withdrew its outrageous and unreasonable demands.

The workers themselves made it clear to management, scab labour and their co-workers inside that Industry Park Drive would be union-controlled until the threat against them was lifted, with no vehicles getting in or out without their consent.

From a somewhat despondent lockout to a bold and very public victory, this dispute is an amazing example of the power of solidarity. Congratulations to all the workers involved, whose stamina and friends proved stronger than management’s!