
Issue No 56		02 June 2000

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Unions

Dudded on the Dock of the Bay

By Andrew Casey

Until a few weeks ago Allan and Beverley Crelley had never ever heard of SERCO the big London multinational that specialises in winning contracts from governments committed to outsourcing their workers.

Mr and Mrs Crelley, have between them worked as cleaners at HMAS Creswell, just outside of Nowra, for nearly twenty years.

SERCO - which last year increased its profits by 18.8 per cent - has just won a $151 million Australian Defence forces contract to provide security, catering, barracks management, ground maintenance, cleaning, garbage removal, laundry etc etc.

So SERCO's now got the contract to 'manage' Allan and Beverley's jobs at the Navy Base.

That's why the couple have been told to reapply to keep their own jobs.

They applied. And then got a letter telling them they were sacked.

Mrs Crelley is just bitter about the lack of courtesy and respect she has been shown after all these years.

"They didn't have the guts to tell us to our face, they just posted a letter," she said.

It is this rudeness to the locals that has got many people upset.

And that's why there is talk of a community campaign involving local businesses, churches, community groups and unions to tell the multinational to learn some manners.

The local community has got the courage to make this a big issue, Bryan Smith, the regional organiser for the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU), reckons.

" It is a tough issue but the community knows that these jobs are needed and they have the courage to tell a London mob that Nowra has got guts," Bryan said.

There are already plans for picketing to be put into place starting June 19 at HMAS Albatross.

A community meeting has been called for this Tuesday night at Bombaderry RSL Club.

But the company today moved to undermine the importance of that meeting.

They have sent out job offer notices which state that if you want their job you have to agree in writing, by Monday, and you must accept an individual employment contract - one of Peter Reith's hated Australian Workplace Agreement

For Allan Crelley who, along with his wife, is an LHMU member, the issue is about his whole way of life: "Now tell me what future have we got now this job's been taken off us. I am 59 and the wife's 53. There's no future at all*and the company was so rude about it."

After twelve years working at the Base as a permanent employee he brings home $778 a fortnight. Now he says he - and his wife - are facing life on the dole.

The company will start 'managing'; the jobs at the two Navy Bases on June 19 at HMAS Albatross and June 23 at HMAS Cresswell, and that's when Mr and Mrs Crelley lose their jobs.

For SERCO, and Mr Beetson, the SERCO Chief Executive based in London, the Australian Defence Contract - which includes HMAS Albatross and HMAS Cresswell - means more money for their very profitable bottom line.

For the community of Nowra - population 25,000 - it means hundreds of local jobs lost ( both directly and in-directly) and a huge impact on the region's economy.

It is a blow that this regional centre will find hard to take, its local levels of unemployment have been on the rise for a while. Now at nearly 12 percent it is one of the highest in the State.

The two Navy bases have traditionally been one of the big employers in the region.

In its annual report SERCO boasts that it is a 'task management contractor to government and industry providing comprehensive support services across a wide range of applications'.

Translated into ordinary people's lingo it means the company wins big dollar contracts and makes profits by getting rid of people - and sharply cutting the pay and conditions of the people who still have a job.

Commuters using the Adelaide bus system have been almost in shock since SERCO, and others, took over some of the privatised bus services in April this year.

More than half the bus drivers lost their jobs when the public transport system was privatised.

The local papers are running shock horror stories about timetable grumbles 'cause the new privatised buses not turning up on time.

SERCO has taken over the job of managing an Atomic Weapons Establishment in the UK*and, guess what, its been announced that 1400 jobs would be cut. A third of the workforce.

It is the same strategy that is about to be used in Nowra with HMAS Albatross and HMAS Cresswell, down the road in Jervis Bay.

SERCO wants to offer only 15 per cent of the existing workforce any kind of job.

They have told the lucky few to forget the security of the Defence Contractors Award which now puts a floor under their working conditions and wages.

Those who want a job have to accept the individual employment contracts on offer, or they don't have a job.

And the job on offer for the 'lucky' workers will not be permanent. Most will only be getting casual and part-time work.

Bryan Smith, the local union organiser from Beverley and Allan Crelley's union - the LHMU - is flabbergasted. " The truth is they are being made to sign under duress."

The union has started to heavily lobby the local Liberal Federal MP, Mrs Joanna Gash.

" Joanna Gash holds one of the Howard Government's most marginal seats. We will remind her that if hundreds of people lose local jobs they, and their families, will be very angry voters at the next election," Bryan Smith said.

" John Howard says he wants to support jobs in regional Australia. Mrs Gash should explain how this action, to do away with our jobs, supports regional Australia."

Mrs Gash knows that the Federal Opposition is ready to campaign on this issue in her electorate because it is one of the electorates they think they can win.

Laurie Ferguson, the Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, has already circulated to the local media a statement claiming that the tendering out of the jobs to SERCO at the South Coast Navy Bases were part of a pattern of mismanagement.

" When contracts for support services are transferred from the public to the private sector this must NOT be at the expense of regional jobs, or of hard-won employment conditions for existing staff," Laurie Ferguson said.

Allan Crelley says there is a lot of fight in the local community over this issue.

" The news is only just getting around and no one wants to accept what's on offer. I think we'll get a big crowd at the Bombaderry RSL Club next Tuesday night," Allan said.

Last Wednesday there was a huge crowd at the gates of HMAS Albatross when SERCO advertised an information session about the few jobs that will be available when they take over in a few weeks time.

SERCO was offering jobs only to those people prepared to accept one of Peter Reith's Australian Workplace Agreements - and the agreement on offer was way below what the current Defence Contractors Award stipulates.

The crowd at HMAS Albatross weren't lining up for a job with SERCO.

They were there to protest the fact that more than 150 people were about to lose work because of SERCO.

The South Coast Labor Council's vice-president, Andrew Whilley, addressed the rally and laughed at the promise of Peter Reith that his Australian Workplace Agreements would be able to protect workers from sub-standard wages and conditions.

The decision by SERCO to force workers onto individual employment contracts instead of collective agreements could yet become a major national issue to be played out in the voting booths of Mrs Gash's marginal electorate of Gilmore.

On the same day that SERCO held its information session offering jobs only to people prepared to accept individual employment contracts, known as Australian Workplace Agreements, the Federal Labor Leader, Kim Beazley, announced that under a future Beazley Government AWAs will be abolished.

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  Issue 56 contents

Interview: When the War is Over
Teachers Federation chief Sue Simpson has just come through the industrial dispute of a lifetime. But where to now for her members?

Politics: The Beazley Manifesto
Read the full transcript of Kim Beazley's Fraser Lecture develiered this week, where he unveiled Labor's new industrial relations platform.

Unions: Dudded on the Dock of the Bay
Until a few weeks ago Allan and Beverley Crelley had never ever heard of SERCO the big London multinational that specialises in winning contracts from governments committed to outsourcing their workers.

History: The Long March for Justice
Against the backdrop of the Walk for Reconciliation across the Sydney Harbour Bridge that took place last Sunday, it is worthwhile recognising that trade unionists were actively promoting the issue decades ago.

International: UK Unions Turn the Corner
Union membership is on the rise for the first time in 20 years, indicating an early response to union recognition legislation set to come into effect next month.

Work/Time/Life: Flexible Clerks Save Hours
The Australian Services Union has successfully blocked an attempt by wholesaler Davids Limited to force clerical staff at the company's Blacktown office from flexible working hours to a standard 38 hour week.

Review: Who Really Won the War?
It might be being pulped for a reference to serial-suitor Peter Costello, but 'Waterfront' has sparked some lively debate about our recent industrial history.

Satire: Gosper's New Torch Role
A week after he was excluded from the Olympic torch relay as a result of public criticism, Kevan Gosper has been reinstated by SOCOG President Michael Knight for a special project.

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» Women's Bureau to Stay in DIR

» Joy's Winter of Discontent

» Advocate Pushes Pattern Bargaining

» Nike Versus The Workers

» New Safety Laws A First in Australia

» Workers March for Reconciliation

» Labour Movement Mourns Loss of Neil Marshall (11th June 1943 - 31st May 2000)