
Issue No 90		30 March 2001

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Victorious Workers Paint the Picket Red

Mirotone paintworkers are today celebrating a clear victory for decent working hours, and union delegates rights.

" At a time when bosses all over Australia are trying to force workers to accept longer working hours our members have won the right to keep the 35 hour week," Cheryl Hyde, LHMU Assistant National Secretary said today.

" Mirotone had hoped to turn the clock back on a twenty year old working hours standard in the paint industry by getting our members to work a 39 hour week.

" At a time when the union movement is pushing a charter for delegates rights we have stopped an attempt by this company to undermine workplace democracy by announcing - in the middle of a dispute - they were sacking our senior union delegate."

As part of the return to work deal the LHMU members at Mirotone have also won an 8.1 per cent pay increase over nineteen months.

March thu the gates on Monday

Union members will walk back through the gates of Mirotone - at their plants in Sydney and Brisbane - at 6am on Monday morning (April 2) celebrating a victory for collective action.

Before the march LHMU members will hold a celebratory breakfast barbecue with special guests at the Mirotone work site in Revesby, Sydney, on Monday (April 2) at 5am.

Included among the guests will be the former national secretary of this union, Ray Gietzelt, who was instrumental in winning the 35 hour week in the paint industry twenty years ago.

Ken Phillips, the Mirotone senior paint delegate at the Revesby plant, who the company sacked, said today that this dispute underlined the need to protect the rights of workplace delegates.

Delegates rights

" The ACTU and the LHMU are pushing for governments to put into law a charter of delegates rights.

" Companies should not think they can win a dispute, undermine a union, just by sacking a delegate.

" Respect for workplace delegates should be a given in all workplaces and should be a central campaign issue for all unions," Ken Phillips said.

The Mirotone paint company used the Reith anti-worker laws to lock out their workforce three times over a six week period.

The LHMU started an industry-wide campaign nine months ago to improve the pay and working conditions of its paint industry members in all paint companies.

Agreements have already been reached at Taubmans, Wattyl, Selleys and now Mirotone.

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Issue 90 contents

Interview: On the Up and Up
On the eve of new figures showing the slide in union membership may be bottoming out, ACTU secretary Greg Combet takes stock of the state of the movement.

Unions: Organising Theory
Labor Council�s Chris Christodoulou reports back from this week�s ACTU Organising Conference

Economics: The Failure of the Third Way
In his presentation to this week's ACTU Organising Conference, John Buchanan painted a dark picture of the emerging labour market.

History: Emblems of Unity
The Gregory J. Smith Collection of Trade Union badges was auctioned today in Sydney. Smith compiled a book on 763 of his remarkable collection which was published in 1992.

Legal: Della's Compo Plan
Labour lawyer Richard Brennan places the NSW workers compensation reforms under the microscope.

International: East Timor Goes Union
Workers in the fledgling nation have established their equivalent to the ACTU to build a safety net for workers.

Satire: Management for the Post-Industrial World
A new management fad is sweeping the post-industrial world, which has major social and political implications at the macro and micro level. We have called it "Purge Management Strategy" (PMS).

Review: Surviving The Temptations of TV Island
Cultural analyst Mark Morey rakes over the coals of American TV culture to find very little is there.

» Compo Wars: Round One to the Workers

» Breakthrough on Sweat-Shops

» Beazley to Force Executive Disclosure

» Call Centre Union Busters Get Wake-Up Call

» Victorious Workers Paint the Picket Red

» Grenadier Workers Maintain Vigil

» Kembla Water Rats Face Extinction

» Employers Told: Casual Workers Have Full-Time Rights

» Good On Ya Mum, Buttercup�s Leaving Town

» Forty Seven Years of Service Rewarded

» Telstra Called to Account on Legionella

» Record Low Aussie Dollar Adds to Surging Profits

» No Progress on Stonemasons

» Burrow Lobbies on BHP and US Trade Abroad

» Feed the Shangri-La Workers Fund

» STOP PRESS: Union Numbers Up - ABS

» The Soapbox

» The Locker Room

» Trades Hall

» Tool Shed

» Crumby Company

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