Forwarded from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The CFMEU (Miners Union division) is asking people to show their support to miners in the Pilbara. Their employer, BHP Iron, is attempting to put them on individual contracts. Below The CFMEU explains what is going on. Read that and then ... LET THE WORKERS THERE KNOW THAT THEY ARE NOT ALONE. SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY TO: FACSIMILE: 61 8 9177 8107 EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Pass this message on to your colleagues, friends and family. Support messages from union workplaces and from individuals do help, especially when the workers in the firing line are in isolated places like the Pilbara. *************************** December 2, 1999 BHP DENIES WORKERS RIGHTS Australian mining company adopts hard-line approach BHP management in iron ore operations has abandoned its traditional cooperative approach to industrial relations in favour of a hard-line policy that denies its workers the right to bargain collectively. In a radical change, the big Australian mining company issued its 1000 iron ore workers in the Pilbara, Western Australia, with individual staff contracts, saying it was not prepared to negotiate a new collective agreement. BHP has previously operated under a collective agreement negotiated with unions. Unions say BHP is acting with gross disregard for the rights of its employees. The individual staff contracts were delivered to workers homes on November 11. BHP decreed that workers must either sign the contracts or stay on their expired agreements, and forgo wage and superannuation rises and lump-sum sick leave payouts. Under the contracts, BHP would be able to impose workplace changes and alter pay scales without having to negotiate with unions. BHP offered workers a bonus of three months backpay if they signed by December 3. Several hundred union members rallied outside BHP head office in Melbourne on December 2 to protest the company actions. The Secretary-elect of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Greg Combet, said the BHP Iron Ore division had moved sharply away from its successful cooperative approach to industrial relations, and was aping the hard-nosed American-style tactics that characterised its competitor Rio Tinto. Chief executive Paul Anderson undoubtedly has a tough job, he said. But he also has a responsibility to BHP employees. An interview in this week Bulletin magazine with Mr Anderson describes the Pilbara situation as a bloodless battle - but that approach is not on in Australia. BHP should not become The Big American. Not only is BHP now displaying great disregard for the right of employees to bargain collectively, it is adopting discriminatory practices against one section of its workforce. BHP is offering these Pilbara workers 14% superannuation only if they sign an individual contract, and yet BHP already pays its steel workers the same amount under a collective agreement negotiated with the unions. BHP Steel can work out a collective agreement, why can BHP Iron Ore do the same? Unions and their members in the Pilbara are more than willing to talk about efficiencies and flexibility to boost BHP domestic and international competitiveness in iron ore. BHP's individual staff contract offer came just weeks after conservative lawyers and journalists published articles in the financial press urging BHP to drop "its union culture. Some industrial relations experts are tipping that the move by BHP is a forerunner for similar forays into other areas, such as the coal and steel divisions. BHP RIDING HIGH BHP has benefited enormously from collective agreements and restructuring in the coal industry. BHP says the move to individual staff contracts will cost it $10 million, but BHP will make cost savings of $80 million. Where does the $80 million come from? The potential for huge savings lies in: * Lost jobs * Longer hours of work for no more pay * Contracting out * Employing new workers on lower rates A briefing paper on the BHP website (www.bhp.com.au) called "Changes in Employment Arrangements" BHP Iron Ore says: "The move from EBAs to individual staff contracts will overcome limitations and restrictions on the pace of change. The $10 million spent on higher wages will be significantly more than offset by productivity gains." BHP boasts that its ability to deliver further productivity gains, in part through the change in workplace employment arrangements, will enhance cost competitiveness and deliver enhanced shareholder value. In the same document, BHP admits it has already: * Slashed staff levels by 20% in 12 months * Cut the cost of ore by 17% - a saving of $140 million * Pushed up iron ore movements by 17% BHP also trumpets the success of its new business review scheme Project Phoenix. It says: Despite significant improvements a change in workplace arrangements is integral to further improvements. Project Phoenix describes how BHP will be able to alter staff rosters: Changes to workplace arrangements will continue to advance productivity gains in areas such as changes to shift arrangements. This is backed up by the individual staff contract, which says: The company reserves the right to, from time to time, change the shift system in operation to require you to transfer from day work to shift work, from shift work to day work or from one shift to another. THE PILBARA IS A REMOTE REGION OF AUSTRALIA. PLEASE LET THE WORKERS THERE KNOW THAT THEY ARE NOT ALONE. SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY TO: FACSIMILE: 61 8 9177 8107 EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ========================================================== Dilum Dassanayake PH: (61) 2 9514 1155 Education Officer FX: (61) 2 9514 1157 Students' Association University of Technology, Sydney PO BOx 123, Broadway NSW 2007 Australia Web: http://www.sa.uts.edu.au/ http://www.sa.uts.edu.au/people/index.html ========================================================== -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
