
Issue No 1		19 February 1999

Unions

Getting Under The Skin

Mark Hearn

The cash-in-transit industry - known for it's vulnerability to violence and theft - comes under scrutiny as the industry moves to a new "soft skin" operation


	TWU Secretary Tony Sheldon talks to Marcus Schulz: "It's got to be made safer for all of us".

Charles Mackay shakes his head. "What was illegitimate three weeks ago is now supposedly legitimate". Charles is understandably frustrated and bewildered.

A veteran of a long campaign to improve safety standards in the Cash-In-Transit (CIT) industry, Charles and his fellow Armaguard security guards fear three years' hard work may be about to be undone.

Armaguard, the most successful and respected of Australia's armoured car, cash delivery operators, has purchased ASAP Couriers, a company which a few years ago diversified into providing "soft skin" cash pick-up services - a covert, plain clothes courier, working alone from an unmarked car. A service apparently popular with some businesses - particularly fast-food outlets, which prefer a more discreet approach to the traditional armoured van with three uniformed and armed staff.

Charles would prefer that the soft skin operators discreetly disappeared from the industry. "These operators threaten our jobs - they are our direct competitors."

He sees a basic contradiction between a company offering a more costly service, and a high profile on safety, with a covert soft skin operation, where an individual works alone in a normal car. Indeed, Armaguard had previously expressed concerns over the emergence of soft skin operators in the industry; now, as Charles complains, "they've bought one of them".

The CIT industry comes with its own coded language, like the closely guarded secrets of safety procedures and cash movement, and the network of steel doors, cameras and one-way windows which confront the Armaguard visitor. No-one wants to say too much, and cut the bandits an advantage. Bandits who kill.

Armaguard workers are worried that their employer, chasing market share, may inadvertently offer the bad guys an exposed surface: their soft skin.

Since helping to organise an eight day strike by armoured guards, members of the Transport Workers Union, in 1995, Charles, a senior TWU delegate, has been pushing for the implementation of the recommendations of the NSW Government's Cash-In-Transit Inquiry.

The strike followed the fatal shooting of one armoured guard in a robbery, and the wounding of another guard a few days later. The subsequent inquiry produced a series of recommendations designed to clean up the industry and improve safety.

Charles says guards were determined to "get rid of the small operators" from the industry, and build a stronger safety regime - at least three staff per van, and four in "black spot" areas; the introduction of better communications systems - incredibly, guards did not have access to radios or phones before the strike.

Winning these basic protections was a condition of the return to work. The other safety gains have taken longer to achieve. Until recently, Charles believed that the hard work was starting to pay off.

The company claims the ASAP acquisition is "customer driven", and prompted by a need to expand and protect Armaguard's market share. Tom Steward, manager of one of Armaguard's Sydney operations, says the armoured car market is "saturated. The company needs to grow."

Increased competition has brought lower profit margins. Major US operator, Brinks, has come into the local market, breaking up the duopoly enjoyed by Armaguard and Brambles - and adding to the pressure already created by the emergence of the soft skin operators. Steward says the three-man crew arrangement is not under threat from the soft skins, nor are safety standards. "It's a different operation".

NSW TWU Secretary Tony Sheldon says most of the CIT inquiry's recommendations have been implemented by NSW Attorney-General Jeff Shaw. Industry operators can be fined and lose accreditation if they fail to observe safety codes, or pay award rates. Staff can now be vetted for criminal records. "Armaguard won't be able to run the soft skin operation on the cheap".

Charles Mackay is angry not only about the company's decision, but its impact on jobs. Armaguard failed to consult staff before taking the decision to purchase ASAP; Charles hopes that the company will be more up-front addressing employment and pay concerns.

Although Armaguard has around 500 staff, and only 28 soft skinners will join the company from ASAP, Charles fears they could have an influence far in excess of staff numbers. "ASAP is non-unionised", Charles says, "and their staff are paid $4 an hour less than us".

Charles says there's been constant pressure from the company to cut labour costs, by reducing crew numbers from two to three. "Now there will be pressure to reduce to one". Bill Reid, who has been with Armaguard ten years, says the ASAP acquisition "is the thin end of the wedge to get two man crews and cut pay."

He disputes Armaguard's claim that the takeover was customer-driven: "it was cost-driven." In his experience, Armaguard customers have no objection to uniformed staff: "they're very happy to have us. There is a feeling of safety." Bill believes the soft skin operators are more open to attack - "you don't need a sophisticated weapon to break into a car".

Yet the appeal of a cheaper service - $50 for an armoured car pick-up, $10 for a soft skin visit - may prove irresistible. Ian Sellick estimates that soft skin operations will take up to 20% of business away from the armoured cars.

Ian has been with the company seven years, and has already seen the steady erosion of permanent full-time work at Armaguard. The CIT industry has travelled well down the "casualisation" path. While a new Armaguard employee can spend as much as $1,200 in training and fees to enter the industry, he or she might only be offered as little as two days work. 50% of Armaguard staff are casuals.

Industry casualisation, and the breakdown of safety standards, takes many forms: as TWU delegate Glenn Nightingale observes, relatively large sums of cash can be easily carried in an envelope. "Heaps of couriers deliver money and don't know it". Very exposed soft skin.

Tony Sheldon says the TWU will take the same hard line on safety and jobs it took during the 1995 strike. "If Armaguard tries to cut jobs or safety standards, they will face the consequences of an industrial campaign. That's for certain."

Charles acknowledges the strong role played by the TWU during and after the dispute. "Tony Sheldon was very vocal and upfront during the strike, and was instrumental in getting the inquiry up and running". Charles understands that neither Armaguard staff nor the union could prevent the ASAP purchase: "but we want to control it". Marcus Schulz can understand Armaguard's need to protect its market share, yet "it's got to be made safer for all of us".

It's all about cash. How to move it safely from business to bank, how much profit can be made by offering the safest, quickest and most economical cash delivery service in a harshly competitive world. Cash drives a hard bargain. As Geln Nightingale observes, a $10 soft skin pic-up "is about the price of a pizza".

The price of safety, in life and limb, is a little higher, and can be found in your local workers compensation register. As reading, it's a bit harder to digest than your average pizza, and its grim allocations of cash in lieu of life and good health are only enforceable after the safety system has broken down.

Photo : TWU Secretary Tony Sheldon with Marcus Schulz: "It's got to be made safer for all of us".

* This article was first published in workSite, the organ of the Lloyd Ross Forum. For the on-line version of workSite, go to www.labor.net.au/worksite

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 1 contents

Interview: Michael Costa
The new Labor Council secretary explains factions, frictions and how to save the union movement.

Unions: Getting Under The Skin
The cash-in-transit industry - known for it's vulnerability to violence and theft - comes under scrutiny as the industry moves to a new "soft skin" operation

History: Remembering the Labor Press
Workers Online is just the latest in a long tradition of publishing by working people and their organisations.

Review: Powderfinger's Political Power Pop
We look at a band who still reckon they can mix music with a bit social commentary.

Campaign Diary: Hartcher Chokes On His Own Uglies
No-one would have been more surprised by last week�s announcement of the Coalition industrial relations policy than its spokesman on the issue, Chris Hartcher.

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