Union wades in at steel AGM

Disgruntled employees and union officials took over the annual general meeting of BlueScope Steel yesterday in a portent for the season to come as workers seek forums to air their grievances and embarrass their employers.

The meeting in Sydney was dominated by complaints from members of the Australian Workers Union about the high level of executive remuneration at BlueScope compared to modest pay increases handed out to steel workers, and the chief executive's reluctance to meet the union.
AWU national secretary Bill Shorten said the company had created 100 new millionaires in senior management since 2001 while offering workers at the lower end of the pay scale rises in line with inflation.

"We came here because we can't find the other forums to debate these issues in," Mr Shorten said.

The AWU had succeeded in placing four special resolutions on the agenda seeking limits on remuneration and director tenure, including a move to limit senior salaries to 20 times the pay of an average BlueScope worker.

All four resolutions, which required a 75 per cent majority to pass, were comprehensively voted down, but gave the union the opportunity to launch a wide-ranging attack on the industrial relations practices of the steel maker.

Unions have made it clear they intend to use AGMs in industrial disputes.

Qantas and Boral face a similar fate at their meetings this week, with the former admitting it plans to use strike-breakers if flight attendants walk off the job over Christmas, even as it asks shareholders to approve a large rise in directors' fees.

Yesterday's AGM lasted 3 1/2 hours and shareholders began to drift away well before the end.

Chairman Graham Kraehe was clearly irked by the proceedings, which were otherwise heavy on news of the company's achievements in the past year, including a 29 per cent jump in profit to $584 million as it rode the Chinese commodities boom.

"We think AGMs are not a forum for campaigns like this," Mr Kraehe said.

Even Labor senator Stephen Conroy, who has campaigned for limits on executive pay, was allowed to speak, despite not being a shareholder.

"I believe this is the appropriate forum for a debate about executive remuneration," he said. "Shareholders have been crying out to make boards accountable."

Mr Kraehe said after the meeting that the board decided to allow the resolutions even though it had legal advice that it did not have to. "We took a view as a board we should have the debate openly and let all shareholders have a say even though we thought some of it was a bit silly."

From The Australian.