BY SUE BOLTON
SYDNEY — In the election for national secretary of the food and confectionary division of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), workers have the opportunity to vote in favour of militant unionism.
Assistant state secretary of the Victorian food and confectionary division, Ray Campbell, is challenging the incumbent national secretary, Jenny Dowell. Dowell is supported by AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron. Ballot papers have been sent out; the ballot closes on May 20.
Campbell is campaigning on the record of achievements of the Victorian division since he was elected as organiser in 1998, along with Bronwyn Halfpenny as assistant state secretary. In 1999, the sitting state secretary resigned and Halfpenny moved into the position. Campbell replaced Halfpenny as assistant state secretary. Halfpenny and Campbell are part of the militant Workers First grouping which runs the Victorian AMWU.
The membership of the Victorian food division is at its highest for 10 year, with 6200 members (compared to 2100 in NSW). When Campbell and Halfpenny took office, the SPC and Ardmona sites had been badly neglected and casual and seasonal workers were not members of the union. Membership at SPC has jumped from 500 of the 1200 workers to more than 900.
Workers at small sites that have never been unionised are now being organised. Many casual workers are joining the AMWU because of its success in winning permanent jobs for them. During Campbell's and Halfpenny's term, more than 500 casual positions have become permanent.
The Workers First leadership of the food division has managed to eliminate labour hire from most plants in Victoria. Enterprise agreements now have "no labour hire" clauses.
Many of these gains have been won through Campaign 2000, an attempt by the metal and food divisions of the AMWU in Victoria to simultaneously negotiate similar enterprise agreements across many work sites. This is also known as pattern bargaining and the federal government wants to outlaw the tactic.
Campbell argues that the food and confectionary divisions in NSW and Tasmania "need revitalising". In his election leaflet, Campbell contrasts several key enterprise agreements in NSW and Tasmania with those in Victoria. The contrast is very stark, with most Victorian agreements far outstripping those in NSW. For example, at ice-cream maker Unilever Streets in NSW, a day-shift worker working an eight-hour day takes home $28,184 per annum, whereas at Unilever in Victoria, the same worker would take home $41,017.
In the NSW food industry, labour hire is rampant. Unlike Victoria, most NSW agreements don't have provisions for casual workers to be made permanent.
Supporters of the incumbent food division national secretary have tried to prevent Campbell from visiting sites in NSW. When Campbell's supporters arrived at the Cerebos plant, a couple of the shop stewards informed them that "Cerebos was a Jenny Dowell site" and then told a security guard that Campbell and his supporters should not be allowed on the site. The company's human resources manager eventually agreed to allow Campbell to speak to the workers.
When Campbell arrived at chocolate-maker Darrell Lea, management said it had been instructed "not to allow anyone from Melbourne on the site".
At Unilever Streets, some workers were hot under the collar about the poor wages and conditions received by NSW workers, compared to Victorian workers. One worker had asked the NSW division leadership for a copy of the Victorian agreement, but the request had been refused.
Dowell has been telling NSW workers that if Campbell is elected, he will neglect NSW. "This would be pointless", Campbell told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly. "We don't see why workers in NSW — where the cost of housing is higher — should experience inferior conditions. We want to lift the conditions of workers in NSW."
Prior to becoming an elected official, Campbell worked at the vegetable processing company Simplot in rural Victoria, between 1988 and 1998. He was the shop steward for the last four years of his time there and was a delegate to the Shepparton Trades and Labor Council for around eight years. Towards the end of his time at Simplot, Campbell led a significant industrial dispute there.
The dispute arose because Simplot demanded that the workers sign over to a labour hire firm or be sacked. No-one signed the documents by the due date and the 90 or so workers were locked out for eight weeks. On the third day of the dispute, union officials encouraged the workers to return to work. Campbell spoke against a return to work if that meant agreeing to become labour hire workers. The Simplot workers voted unanimously to stay on strike and organised a tent city.
Women were 50% of those on strike and were its strongest contingent, Campbell told GLW. A lot of the women participated in the picket line and they were adamant that they were not going to be forced back to work.
At the end of the lockout, the workers won an agreement which excluded the use of labour hire. "This was a significant victory, given the prevalence of labour hire throughout most industries now", Campbell added.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, May 1, 2002.
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