Fighting for members across SA

Following the SA government’s administration, and the Federal support package, the Whyalla steelworks is slowly moving in a better direction.

The administrator hit the ground running, ensuring unpaid creditors were paid, rectifying supply chain issues and identifying and fixing critical infrastructure plant failures. The AWU has been pushing to increase blue-collar workers for over a year; this has finally been recognised, with the administrator employing over 80 new positions. There’s still work to be done to get the plant running in a safe, productive and profitable level for its new owner. Bargaining for a new EBA has just started for the steelworks and mine sites, and our members are preparing to face all the challenges as a united group of workers.

Our members at Adelaide Brighton Cement (AdBri) have been under attack. The employer unashamedly tried to slash worker entitlements by no longer providing Salary Maintenance to sick workers – which is part of the workers’ EBA at the Birkenhead site. The AWU SA Branch took the fight to Deputy President Hampton at Fair Work Commission, to preserve worker entitlements and send a message that employers cannot unilaterally change conditions outside of bargaining.    

AdBri recently took the change to their Salary Maintenance clause to their EBA negotiations at the Angaston site, to which 100% of the workers voted a resounding NO. AdBri will try to take this to their Klein Point and Birkenhead sites, and we’ll support members to stand stronger together and vote NO to any attacks on their entitlements!

The AWU supported our members at a regional local Council in SA’s Mid-North Yorke Peninsula. The employer incorrectly classified workers, resulting in $14,500 of backpay. This is another great effort by our members to identify a problem, alert the AWU, and take the right steps to ensure workers are paid correctly.

The Hunter Class navy ship build is underway, with work ramping up and new starters increasing each week. The total workforce will peak in 2027 at 1500, including an apprentice program at local schools to train new workers.

EBA negotiations at the BAE Osborne site commenced mid-2024. Our members are seeking pay parity with their neighbors at ASC, who have similar transferable skills. The employer used all the usual stalling tactics, taking over 7 months to put a substandard wage offer on the table. Our members will not take the crumbs offered by BAE, and started a protected action campaign in February, including rolling stoppages, part and full-day work stoppages. Over 450 combined union members marched through the city of Adelaide and rallied in front of the BAE office in protest – the sight of union members marching through the streets was spectacular.

BAE’s latest failure was putting the offer to workers, which was thumped by a 97% NO vote! Union members at BAE will stand together and continue with industrial action until they win wage parity with other sites.