Boeing Running Scared

AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten said Boeing had fought the AWU's application for a secret ballot - of the maintenance engineers to determine support for a collective agreement - before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission this morning.

Mr Shorten said the AWU had made the application to bring the 107-day dispute, involving engineers from the RAAF's Williamtown base, to a head.

"Boeing's stubbornness and stalling tactics mean that our application won't be heard by the Commission for another month, denying our members an avenue of resolving this dispute now," Mr Shorten said.

"We proposed the secret ballot as a means of bringing this dispute to an end, but Boeing can't even come half-way and be constructive.

"Is Boeing too proud to agree to a secret ballot because it was the union's idea, or is it really just scared that the majority of its maintenance workers and technicians in Newcastle would prefer to have the union negotiate an agreement on their behalf?"

"Boeing has argued all along that the majority of its workforce prefers to be on individual contracts but when they get an opportunity to prove that claim, they run scared."

AWU Newcastle Secretary Kevin Maher said the engineers on the picket line felt Boeing's opposition to the secret ballot summed up the company's attitude to its workers.

"Could there be any clearer sign that Boeing is not interested in the views of its workforce than its refusal to allow all of them to exercise their democratic rights and vote on their preferred employment arrangements?" Mr Maher asked.

"Boeing might be doing the Howard Government's bidding by running down the rights of its workforce, but they're plain stupid if they continue to underestimate the determination of our members."

Contact Details
AWU National Office
Ph:  (03) 8327 0888
Fax: (03) 8327 0899
members@awu.net.au
http://www.awu.net.au/