it pays to be union! Richie Hassett Tasmanian Sub Branch Secretary We’ve been able to lock away many more EBAs, some with companies who have signed for the first time, others rolling over previous agreements, but there is still much work to be done. The usual suspects still continue to run the gauntlet with underpaying their employees their entitlements. Please feel free to contact the union office if you have questions regarding these EBAs and whether or not you’re working under one or feel you should be.
a shortage of skilled labour and this is going to continue for the foreseeable future. With so many larger commercial projects happening at once comes pressure on timeframes, production, safety and most importantly man hours. Let’s use our RDOs wisely, take them when they fall, rest and recuperate in order to lessen the fatigue factor that I’ve noticed setting into our industry at present. National Rally
Take Your RDOs
The construction industry will be throwing our support behind a national rally day in support of Changing the Rules.
There are a number of projects about to start coming out of the ground that are already seeing
How does this benefit our members? To start with, currently the ability to bargain industry-wide
would produce better outcomes. The overarching laws that the ABCC run under need to be gone, casualisation of our industry and sham contracting needs to stop, and all the laws designed to restrict the union’s ability to organise labour to better its members’ lives need to change. We call on all our membership to participate on this day, details will be sent out soon.
Richie Hassett Tasmanian Sub Branch Secretary
There has been a number of battles on many sites over my 5 years as an official down here in Tasmania, none bigger than what we’ve seen at the RHH. As this goes to print, it looks as though everyone has been paid their entitlements and Tasmanian workers have had a massive win. United we stand, divided we fall. Some lessons learned For those that weren’t involved with this dispute, understand that once everyone decided to stick together, their victory was guaranteed. It was all about how long John Holland could hold out.The same principles should be applied to our next round of enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs).
Kevin Harkins Tasmanian Sub- Branch President In my 25 or so years as a Union Official, I thought I had seen it all, but as they say, you’re never too old to learn. John Holland was the teacher in this instance, a multinational company now Chinese government owned, who I have never had great respect for based on past experience. They have made it a long time practice to send subbies broke and leave workers without entitlements. The Royal Hobart Hospital is the largest construction project ever to be built in Tasmania. With a value of around $700m it dwarfs everything else by a fair stretch. On a job that size you would think John Holland would have their shit together but nothing has been further from the truth. Non-code compliance for multiple reasons, poor safety standards, and dodgy employment arrangements seem to be par for the course. The plastering contractor, Melbournebased Accuracy Interiors, arrived on site and seemed to have everything in place. Local agreement, employing local CFMEU members, it was all good. Eventually John Holland put the pressure on with completion deadlines and Accuracy could not find the local labour to keep up. The CFMEU warned John Holland that things would go pear shaped, and we
were spot on! Employees, mainly Chinese nationals on working visas, arrived from Melbourne to help. As Accuracy have a Vic agreement initially all seemed well. Then the hand grenade went off … no pay for up to 8 weeks!
The new company, Q3 Group, have signed up to a greenfields agreement, based on the Vic industry EBA, so locals get a huge increase in wages and conditions. The CFMEU is assisting to recruit more locals as work picks up.
The workers took it upon themselves to sit in the shed until they were paid and were soon joined by the local lads.
Most of the Chinese Plasterers have stayed on and the respect between them and the local workforce is great to see. I think we all learned something out of this dispute.
It turns out that the Chinese were working under a ‘gang boss’ system. The gang boss recruits and employs the workers on either ABN or cash - both are breaches of the building code and EBA. Accuracy pays the gang boss and they pay the workers whatever they like, after taking his cut off the top. It’s labour hire on steroids. The CFMEU conducted a full audit of outstanding wages and entitlements and found the workers were owed a staggering $1.5 million! There was no way Accuracy could cover the costs or finish the job paying proper EBA rates. John Holland should have known something was up when the prices came in. John Holland were responsible for allowing this to happen, so we said they could pay to clean up the mess. Workers remained shedded up for the best part of two weeks until the money was paid. Accuracy collapsed and a new contractor has been put in place to try to get the job back on track.
This sort of action should send a clear message to workers on every site in Tasmania about what is achievable if everyone is a member and we stick together. The next EBA round is not far away, maybe parts of this agreement will form the new benchmark in our next round of agreements, but that will depend on the commitment of members.
Liam Chu, a 32 years old carpenter with 5 years’ experience has been on the hospital job since late July: “When we first start, we were on apprenticeship rates even though we are experienced.” “Most people were being underpaid, some knew it was wrong, but there’s a lot of exploitation out there so they put up with it.” “They work for the gang boss, they don’t have any agreement, any contract. There’s no protection. Some might pay by cash, some by ABN.” “Some workers reported a gang boss a couple of years ago and they got threatened. The union got involved and got them paid, they help us out.” “The gang boss tells a different story and they do the translations, they can threaten people with their visas, their family relations, their jobs.” “The translator from the union told the truth, explained our rights.” “When we are together, we had the power. As individuals, the gang boss would get rid of us. We have families to look after so it’s good to have the union.” “The union helps us to get wages, we can pay taxes, get organised. It’s good for the industry, good for everyone.” Jamie Pace and Jason Evans are local plasterers working on RHH: “We’re not used to this stuff down here, we’re all a bit shellshocked.” “We were getting paid right until the bigger claim came through. We only missed out on one week and a couple of weeks entitlements. Guys who live week to week, it put them in the shit.” “Now they’re fixing up the back pay, including the time work stopped.” “Getting on Melbourne rates makes it worth it, 100 percent. Guys who have been working 40 years in Tassie say they’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this their whole career.” The scaffolders on Melbourne rates are happy too: “Setting a bit of a standard. $45 an hour, locals would be on $28.” “They’re putting some aside, putting some over the bar. “The more you make the more you spend, it’s a good contribution to the community.”
The Master Builders Tasmania have been caught rorting, along with John Holland, construction workers and companies working on the RHH. The scam involves having to pay a $99 fee before you are allowed to start work on site. This fee was masked as payment for induction, but we all know the truth: somebody’s pockets are getting lined. Be it the Master Builders, someone inside John Holland or someone
inside the government. All three have known about this from the start and turned a blind eye. It is a breach of the current building code and those involved should be prosecuted by the ABCC for every single breach. Over 2,000 people have been inducted onto the RHH, that’s over 2,000 potential breaches to be prosecuted. They never hesitate to pursue us union officials every time we walk onto a job to try and make it safer or to better our members’ lives.
NYRSTAR At just 25 years old, Dylan Winch would likely be the youngest crane operator in Tassie. Dylan started out doing structural steel at 19, now he’s a rigger/crane driver at the UTAS Hedberg. “I did my tickets, decided I wanted to do rigging and got onto Olympic Dam. I did it off my own bat, I’d been promised they’d pay for my tickets before but it never happened.” Dylan already knows the importance of being in the union. He was having a few issues with his pay but after the union had a quick chat with his employer, they saw the error of their ways. The Hedberg tower crane with Hansen Yuncken is Dylan’s first chance as an operator. “It’s been a year now, we installed the crane, a good learning experience, never done anything like that.” “We put the sections of the tower in, climbing the whole tower, putting the boom in, everything.” “I’ve heard from a lot of people this is one of the worst jobs they’ve been on. They say if you can learn on this crane, you’ll be right on anything.” Outside of work, Dylan has grand plans: “I want to travel the world, work in different places on cranes.”
Pay rates are up around $2.60 an hour at Macquarie Builders with a new union EBA. Members at the City Hall re-flooring job who have been with Macquarie one and a half to three years are pleased: “Real wages have been going nowhere for so long.” “It’s just keeping up with CPI, cost of living.” “It’s a bit of respect for the skills that we have, there’s lot of jobs out there, no experience or skills needed and you can earn a good income. We should be treated better.” “You can never work in this job ‘til your 70.”
richie’s report
Wonders never cease to amaze out at Nyrstar. A number of disputes have now unfortunately made their way into the commission, which was foolish. There was no need to, if management had of pulled their heads in.
DO NOT MEET WITH SENIOR MANAGEMENT/HR WITHOUT YOUR UNION OFFICIAL PRESENT. The company have made an art form out of not recognising the ‘status quo’ provision in your EBA and will take the first available opportunity to stand workers down without proper consultation. Allowing their HR department to investigate themselves is like allowing the Catholic Church… well we all know what happened there. Human Resources Manager Beck Wade has made a habit of recording phone conversations when she rings members trying to lure them into a meeting. This disgusting behaviour is dishonest but what more would we expect from a hostile management team? The CFMEU has implemented a new delegate structure at Nyrstar with Dutchy (0487 759 778) taking on the lead delegate role. I see Dutchy as an integral part of the union’s ability to organise the workforce. If he is not on shift when issues arise, do not hesitate to call the office (6228 9595) or myself (Richie - 0417 33 99 60). In finishing, we would like both current and former employees that are members of the CFMEU and have lead reading result issues to contact the Union as our legal department are looking into a possible class action. Contact our office: 03 6228 9595