Woolworths workers strike against speed-ups
By Dave Mizon
SYDNEY — While workers at the Kurnell refinery were taking strike action two weeks ago, a much less publicised struggle was also taking place. Woolworths warehouse workers, members of the National Union of Workers (NUW), struck against the introduction of "engineering standards" in the workplace.
The Woolworths picket lines were the scene of violent clashes between police, scabs and picketers, particularly at the Yenora warehouse. An NUW organiser was assaulted and arrested by police at Yenora.
"Engineering standards" is a euphemism for ongoing time and motion techniques. In the morning a stone worker logs onto the warehouse computer and is given a job, described in detail and including an expected completion time. After completing the task, the worker logs back onto the computer and it calculates how long the job took and issues another.
Over the course of a week, if a worker is consistently outside a 10% margin for completion time, he or she is counselled by management. If the situation continues, the worker is sacked.
When the system was introduced in Melbourne warehouses, the computers were programmed to continually ratchet completion time back until the optimum time was identified. In this way the workers were pressured and cajoled into working faster and faster.
Woolworths workers returned to work with the most pressing issues unresolved. Just as the Kurnell workers were threatened with the Essential Services Act by the newly elected state Labor government, Woolworths workers were threatened with deregistration of their union.