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| Issue No 22 |  |
16 July 1999 |
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NewsCardboard King Seeks Warehouse Showdown
One of Australia's richest men, cardboard king Richard Pratt, has escalated a showdown with striking workers by advertising for secruity guards prepared to break picket lines.
An advertisement for 19 security guards is being carried by the Mission Employment web-site. It offers $15 per hour for security guards for an industrial dispute in Sydney. Among the requirements are that guards "must be prepared to cross picket line and stay in Sydney three days". Visyboard sparked the statewide dispute with workers by trying to cut back long-standing conditions during pay negotiations. More than 400 workers of the paper manufacturing company have been on strike for the past week sparked by the dismissal of two workers for refusing to lift work bans. Workers have set up pickets outside the Smithfield and Warwick Farm factories and the company has moved to introduce non-union labour. With a large police presence outside the western Sydney factories and a constant stream of civil court proceedings being undertaken by the company, unions fear the dispute is a sign of how life will be in Peter Reith's brave new world of industrial relations. Printing Union state secretary Basil King says the dispute is a "tough" one and believes the constant court action is prolonging, rather than helping to resolve difference. The dispute was sparked when management attempted to downgrade conditions including making it compulsory to work Good Friday and Christmas Day, reducing overtime rates and repackaging hours into a full five day week. At press time (post-time?), Visyboard was seeking court orders to end the bargaining period, after which time the company could sue workers for lost income. "This is all about one of Australia's richest men, trying to get richer - at the workers' expense," King says.
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   Interview: You�ve Got To Be Kidding!British legal academic Dr Keith Ewing can�t believe we�re still debating whether workers� entitlements should be protected. Unions: The Shaw PlanJeff Shaw unveils his national plan to protect workers entitlements. History: The Case of the Packer LiftAn industrial history of Australian Consolidated Press looks into the media empire. International: Crisis in EcuadorAn urgent appeal for solidarity with the popular uprising in Ecuador. Environment: It's In The GenesDid you eat genetically modified food today? Add your voice to label all gene tech foods campaign. Review: Around the GroundsLabor Council's Don Machiatto goes in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Labour Review: What's New at the Information CentreRead the latest issue of Labour Review, a resource for trade union officials. Satire: Darth Reith's Workplace Relations (Phantom Menace) BillWorkers have been positively thrilled by the prospect of less pay, no sick leave.
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