AWU rejects BlueScope boss's attack

The Australian Workers' Union - which represents more than half of BlueScope's Australian workforce - said the reported comments of BlueScope CEO Kirby Adams yesterday were wrong, provocative and irresponsible.

"BlueScope is making record profits on the back of the constructive role of unions in restructuring the Australian steel industry and the former BHP over the last two decades. Actions speak louder than words BlueScope and other companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the industry and there is no evidence whatsoever that unions are discouraging investment in the Australian industry."

"BlueScope is treating its workers like commodities to be played against each other in a market game. All the recent industrial action by AWU members at BlueScope has resulted from the company's refusal to negotiate over the legitimate concerns of workers including unfair pay, casualisation, redundancy, superannuation and loss of existing conditions."

"The AWU is not opposed to BlueScope or Mr Adams, but they refuse to recognise workers and their union representatives as legitimate stakeholders in the business. Under Mr Adam's leadership, BlueScope has missed more opportunities for a peace settlement than the PLO. The AWU estimates that there has been a fivefold increase in industrial action since Mr Adams took over. At the same time every other steel company in Australia has been able to negotiate effectively with the AWU, " Mr Shorten said.

"BlueScope management should get back to the negotiating table and talk with its workers and their union representatives instead of abusing them in the media."

The AWU has collected data showing:

• BlueScope is unfairly discriminating against steelworkers in rural and regional Australia. For example, a BlueScope worker on the paint line at the Acacia Ridge Service Centre in Queensland could be paid $150 less a week than workers in Port Kembla doing the same kind of job.

• Workers at BlueScope Service Centres are falling behind the rest of the industry and the cost of living. In the three years since September 2001, they have received an average pay rise of only 8%, compared to 17% for steelworkers at other companies including Smorgon Steel and OneSteel. Over the same period, CPI inflation was 8.3%.

• BlueScope management is offering workers a 4.5% a year pay rise compared to the average 35% annual increase this year for the company's top six executives.