Contributed
Seventy five power workers
at Energy Australia at Yallourn in Victoria’s La Trobe Valley have, at the time
of writing, been locked out of their workplace for more than 9 weeks.
The locked out power workers and their families are
refusing to be starved into submission and, with the assistance of their local
and national union leadership in Mining and Energy Division of the CFMEU and
the community, are fighting back.
9 weeks on the grass
For 9 weeks the locked out workers have been sitting
it out in freezing conditions on a 24 hour, round the clock protest camp
outside the Energy Australia power station. A campaign to force management into
proper negotiation for a decent EBA is well underway.
On Friday August 16 the locked out Yallourn workers,
families and their local community supporters travelled in a cavalcade of 3
large buses and cars into the centre of Melbourne, taking their protest
directly to Energy Australia’s head office in Melbourne CBD.
In Melbourne they were joined by a large contingent of
supporters from other unions and the community in a march and rally outside
Energy Australia head office, thus intensifying the ongoing campaign.
The bosses’ law
The dispute began last year in August 2012 when, through
their union, these workers had tried to negotiate a new workplace agreement.
From
the beginning, Energy Australia rejected the union’s claims for improvements in
shift rostering, better consultation and agreement coverage.
The
dispute was escalated on June 21 this year when Energy Australia locked out the
75 workers planning a 1 hour strike during the protected industrial period
during the EBA negotiations. This was after Energy Australia made a number of
unsuccessful attempts in the FairWork Commission to dismiss the workers’
majority vote for strike action, and have it declared illegal.
Frustrated
with even the few small restrictions in FairWork on their freedom to attack the
workers, Energy Australia resorted to WorkChoices/FairWork laws that allow
bosses to legally lock out striking workers, or workers who plan to take strike
action, even during the protected period!
Energy
Australia’s actions expose the industrial laws as there to uphold and protect
big corporations.
Victorian
District President, Luke van der Meulen, said that the lockout has galvanised
wide public and union support. "We have had great public support and the
solidarity we have received from CFMEU and other union members throughout Australia
has been inspiring.
"The
company has pursued a hard line throughout the past year. It reneged on a
previous commitment to improve conditions. It dramatically escalated the
dispute rather than listening to the views of their workers," said Luke.
Wide support for the
workers
Speakers
at the rally outside Energy Australia’s head office in Melbourne sent a strong
message to the company, pledging continuing and widening support for the 75 locked
out power workers.
Michael
O’Connor, the National Secretary of the CFMEU, John Setka, Victorian Secretary
of the CFMEU, and Dave Oliver, ACTU Secretary, told the locked out workers,
their families and their supporters that they have the support not only from
hundreds of thousands of CFMEU members nationally, but from the entire union
movement.
They
warned Energy Australia that it’s not only the Yallourn power workers that the
company is taking on, but all of the union movement. This support will be
mobilised nationally.
Father
Bob Maguire, a progressive Catholic priest, pointed out that it’s the workers
who are the creators of the country’s wealth and should be guaranteed decent
pay and conditions for the hard work they do.
Other
speakers included Mark Wakeham from Environment Victoria and Cam Walker from Friends
of the Earth, pledging the environmental movement’s support for all Yallourn
workers.
Family
members of the locked out workers angrily called on Energy Australia managers
to try and live on no income.
The
rally was also attended by a small group of DLP members who said they strongly
supported workers’ rights and the rights of workers to strike. They had
regularly visited the protest camp outside the Yallourn power station in
solidarity with the locked out workers.
Dave
Kerin, a union and community activist, told the rally that it represented the
diversity of movements that Australian workers belong to – labour, environment
and political. It also represents the
beginnings of the only truly broad alliance of ordinary Australians capable of
taking back the people’s assets and dealing with the combined economic and
climate emergency, he said.
Offensive against the
working class
While
winning this particular battle is extremely important for the workers concerned
and their local community, it is also of significant importance to the whole
working class in Australia, because the dominant section of the ruling class is
moving on an offensive against the whole working class. There is a concerted
push to move forward in pulling down wages and working conditions across the
board. What is happening at Energy Australia has to be seen in this context and
it has much wider implications.
Energy Australia is a subsidiary of a conglomerate
private parent company China Light and Power (CLP Group) established in 1901 by
the Kadoori family and operating from Hong Kong.
It has a long track record of exploitation of
workers.
Nationalise the power
industry!
For us the main concern is how they operate in
Australia.
It is clear from their actions that the methods they
have used against workers overseas are being implemented here too. They must
not be allowed to continue. The Energy Australia workers are standing up
against them magnificently.
These
workers have been through it all before during the privatisation of the publicly
owned State Electricity Commission by the Kennett Liberal-National government
in early 1990s. The privatisation decimated jobs and conditions in the local
community. The price of electricity skyrocketed for all consumers in Victoria.
Building
a movement to take the essential power industry out of the hands of
multinational operators and have it run by workers and the communities is the
only alternative.
That
struggle will grow, and many lessons are being learned about the way this
system is stacked up against the workers and working people.
We
know that when working people are organised, class conscious and mobilised,
they have an enormous desire and power for real change.
For
that change to be brought about and guaranteed for the long term, workers will
have to confront the task of taking the nation’s state power into their own
hands.
Nationalise
the power industry! Fight for
Australia’s independence and socialism!
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