Securing wage increases for SA!

The AWU SA Branch was successful on reaching a greenfield enterprise agreement with the T2D project owners in September last year for the Tunnel works on the T2D project. The Enterprise Agreement is the best Civil Construction Agreement done in SA, and provides good working conditions and wages that will benefit South Australian Civil Construction workers.

The Agreement was lodged with the FWC for certification and was opposed by other construction unions, which resulted in a delay of higher rates of pay costing workers thousands of dollars. The agreement was finally approved in early January by the full bench of the FWC after a two-day hearing.

The T2D project has started to employ full-time workers for the tunnel project where the TBM is being assembled, and the tunnel portal and launch pads are also under construction. The AWU SA Branch will have a full time organiser on-site to ensure all workers become AWU members, to achieve a safe productive work site.

Cleve is a small farming community in the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. The SA Branch have 7 members employed by the local Council. EA negotiations have dragged, after the council contracted a law firm to do their bidding. Their adversarial attempt to reduce wages and conditions led to our members walking off the job.This is the first time ever our members have taken industrial action, and a huge shout-out to our members at Cleve Council, by standing up to the boss dictating their working conditions.

Following the State and Federal Government investment to improve efficiency in critical metals production at the Port Pirie Smelter, negotiations commenced to replace the enterprise agreement. The AWU had been bargaining with Nyrstar for the last 12 months, and AWU members determined that they needed to take action, as their employer wasn’t listening. Workers took industrial action, and the employer, finally seeing their error, withdrew its claims.

Fair and reasonable wage increases were achieved at the bargaining table, including an 18% increase to the shift allowance and all outstanding clauses agreed in principle. Our members will have the opportunity to vote on the agreement, which the AWU is supporting. This was only achieved by our members standing together and showing unity and strength.

Nyrstar has also celebrated its first commercial shipment of antimony from the Port Pirie smelter. A major milestone in Australia’s critical minerals journey, antimony is a critical mineral in high demand across the world, and now it’s being produced by hundreds of proud AWU members in SA!

The Whyalla Steelworks and the Mines Enterprise Agreements have now been voted up, giving our members a 5% wage increase per year over two years, and some important changes to clauses that are favourable to workers.

With the new EA’s, we now have a solid industrial base for the new owners to walk in to. We are also at the 12-month anniversary of the administration of the steelworks and with both agreements locked in it allows the state government and the administrators to focus on the final stages of the sale process.