|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
 Home Campaigns Support the Newcastle Boeing Workers News
RAAF F-18 Boeing Workers step up fight against individual contractsMaintenance workers on the RAAF’s F-18 Hornet jet fighters may strike over the refusal of the Boeing company to negotiate a union work agreement instead of individual contracts.The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) said a majority of the 60 aircraft mechanical engineers at the Williamtown RAAF Base near Newcastle have voted to choose an AWU collective agreement to replace common law individual contracts offered by Boeing Australia Ltd, a subsidiary of the US-based aerospace giant Boeing Hawker de Havilland. AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten said the workers would have no option but to strike if Boeing refused to respect their democratic right and freedom to choose a collective work agreement to achieve higher pay and better conditions than their individual contracts. More than 40 AWU maintenance workers at the air base have been implementing work bans on the filling out of time sheets since last Wednesday in accordance with a unanimous resolution at a stop work meeting outside the base on May 4. AWU Newcastle Branch Secretary Kevin Maher said Boeing has threatened to refuse work to the aircraft mechanical engineers unless they lift the work bans by today (Thursday). "It is outrageous that Boeing will not even talk to us about a new collective agreement, even though it is supported by an overwhelming majority of the workers who simply want the company to respect their freedom to choose what is in their best interests," Mr Maher said. "The Boeing workers regard their individual contracts as secretive, unfair and discriminatory. "Boeing's individual contracts breach the Australian principal of equal pay for equal work because the company is paying some workers up to $2 an hour less than other people doing the same job under the same classification," Mr Shorten said. "Defence Minister Robert Hill should pull Boeing's local managers into line before their pig-headedness is allowed to disrupt maintenance of an essential part of Australia's national security infrastructure - that is, our air defence and attack fighter jets. The Government should not let its anti-union bias for individual contracts damage our national security."
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Print Version | Home | Links | Privacy | Site Survey
|
|
|
© 2004 The Australian Workers' Union Level 10, 377-383 Sussex Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Phone: 02 8005 3333 Members Hotline: 1300 885 653 Fax: 02 8005 3300 Email: members@awu.net.au This page: http://www.awu.net.au/national/campaigns/boeing/news_1121731790_15190.html Site produced by Social Change Online |
  |
