
Issue No 89		23 March 2001

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Unions

Breaking the Mould

Mark Hearn looks at how women union delegates are helping to change the culture in the traditionally male bastion of glassworking.


	AWU Glassworkers� NSW Sub-Branch Secretary John Gorrie, ACI Delegate Maureen Whitty and AWU National Women�s Committee co-ordinator Katherine Wild

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I don't hit 'em hard - I just plug away at it. Some of the guys charge in, pounding the desk, but I find it's more effective to wear them down." As the AWU's senior delegate at ACI Glass Packaging, Maureen Whitty has had plenty of experience in bringing management around to her point of view.

And according to John Gorrie, the AWU Glassworkers' NSW Sub-Branch Secretary, Maureen has been remarkably successful. "Maureen's brought the credibility and profile of the union up in leaps and bounds. Getting people their right pay classifications, taking up members' issues with management. She's fixed a lot of outstanding problems."

Maureen is a Lead Hand Verifier with 16 years experience with the company. She checks the long rows of bottles for defects as they parade past her on the conveyor belt like obedient soldiers. Many familiar shapes trundle past her eye - for tomato sauce, beer and Coke, the distinctive shapes of wine and spirit bottles, jars for salad dressings and mayonnaise. 3 million bottles a day march down the rows for clients that include Carlton United Breweries, Lion Nathan and Masterfoods.

Challenging role

Maureen says she "thoroughly enjoys" her role as delegate. "It was a challenge" to take it on, but she soon grew to love "making management toe the line." Currently she is assisting John Gorrie negotiate manning levels for the Packaging Centre where new technology has, as so often, increased productivity demands.

Across Australia, the Glassworkers' Branch has around 2,500 members, with 800 in New South Wales. John Gorrie says the members, coming from a union long established by the time of its 1993 amalgamation with the AWU, are devoted to their identity as glassworkers. The Australian Glassworkers Union was formed in 1909, and the members continue, as John Gorrie says, "to support officials who've come up from the shop floor, and who know the industry."

25% of the 230 AWU members at ACI Glass Packaging's Penrith (NSW) plant are women. Of the 12 AWU delegates on site, 3 are women. Maureen has had 6 years experience as a delegate; she says a few of the men have not always welcomed representation from a woman delegate, but "I don't let it bother me". The fact that Maureen has spent the last two years as senior delegate is a clear recognition of support from the ACI membership. There are two women who sit on the NSW sub-branch executive, Julie Murray from ACI Penrith and Sheila Wardle at Crown Scientific. "The Glassworkers branch has had a tradition of women activists for some time", John Gorrie says.

Indirect discrimination?

AWU National Women's Committee co-ordinator Katherine Wild says that while there is no deliberate discrimination against women workers at ACI, the 12 hour shifts worked by production staff amounts to a form of "indirect discrimination".

"Some women have family responsibilities which can make it difficult to work 12 hour shifts. If they work in the non-production side of the plant - as verifiers and other aspects of quality control, they usually work 8 hour day shifts and consequently earn less."

The production area of the plant presents as a traditionally industrial and male workplace - hard, dirty work, in an extremely hot environment. For 12 hours a shift, 24 hours a day, the blokes in bandannas keep a weather eye on "the ware" - the fiercely glowing bottles that pour like fire balls down the production line, before being trapped in a mould and blown into the required shape. From time to time a suspect bottle - where the glass has flowed unevenly - is seized for inspection with a serious pair of tongs. The bottle is still so soft with heat that it squeezes like a tube of toothpaste.

Family responsibilities

The division of male and female work zones is also reflected in the ratios of male and female delegates. "Family responsibilities also usually mean that young women often can't involved as union delegates. You notice that as their children get older, these women become quite passionate about being involved as delegates."

Katherine Wild stresses that these gender equity issues are not unique to ACI. "Twelve hour shifts are common in enterprise agreements. They reflect the way society is structured, maintaining the role of the male breadwinner."

To address these issues in AWU workplaces, the AWU has established a National Women's Committee. Katherine says "the aim of the committee is to provide a forum for AWU women, encouraging ideas and programs that can be implemented for their benefit."

The Committee could certainly learn from Maureen Whitty's experience, and her determination to keep plugging away, "little by little", to deliver benefits for her work mates. "Most problems", Maureen says, "are solved through conciliation."

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Issue 89 contents

Interview: Paddy Takes the Helm
Irish, internationalist, republican, socialist & seafarer - Paddy Crumlin intends taking the old traditions of the labour left into the 21st century, the community and cyberspace.

Unions: Breaking the Mould
Mark Hearn looks at how women union delegates are helping to change the culture in the traditionally male bastion of glassworking.

Legal: Washing Their Hands
Mark Morey outlines how Liberal neglect of the working visa system has led to exploitation of guest workers.

International: Violence Betrays Shangri-La
Shangri-La hotel union members carrying a coffin marked Robert Kuok have been assaulted and beaten by police in Jakarta.

Economics: Corporations: Different Than You and Me
Corporations are fundamentally different than you and me. That's a simple truth that Big Business leaders desperately hope the public will not perceive.

History: The Steel Octopus
Be prepared for a flood of Nostalgia from the media about the �Big Australian�, as it prepares to flee our shores and finally internationalise its digging operations. Workers won�t forget BHP�s less than worker friendly past and present (and no doubt it�s future).

Review: Mean Nation
John Allen charts the fall and fall of philanthropy in Australian society.

Satire: Ryan 'A Big Wake-Up Call For Me': Beazley
The narrow victory to Labor in the Ryan by-election has delivered a big slap in the face to Leader of the Opposition Kim Beazley.

» Abbott and �Drinking Buddy� Under Microscope

» Working Visas: Ruddock Sells Dump to Abbott

» Tourist Guides Bussed In

» Fair Wear Holds Breath as Carr Celebrates

» Labor to Restore Public Sector�s Dignity

» Its Time for Carr to Act on Safey on Building Sites

» Bread Maker Slices Workforce

» Workers Show Grace Under Pressure

» Engineers Win BHP Redundancy Case

» Transport Drug Pushers Not Charged

» Training Body Needs $150 Million to Cope with Growth

» HIH Urged To Safeguard Employee Entitlements

» Carr Proposal For Public Schools Flawed

» Human Smirk Returns to Spiritual Home

» McGauchie Appointment Draws MUA Fire

» Bove Loses McDonald's Raid Appeal

» James Hardie Called to Account

» Australasian Union Organising Conference

» Activist Notebook