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2 December, 2001About 6,000 Australian Workers' Union members at BHP Steel will walk off the job next Monday for 24 hours after a breakdown in enterprise bargaining talks.
AUSTRALIA: AWU members voted at mass meetings across Australia to take action after the company refused to commit to security of employment principles in a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA).
National secretary of the AWU, Bill Shorten, said security of employment agreements were the most important provisions in past EBAs at the company's major sites during the past 20 years. The last agreement expired late August.
"In the past we gave a commitment to lift productivity and develop a process for resolving disputes in exchange for BHP giving a commitment to maintain steelmaking in Australia and agree to no enforced retrenchments," Bill Shorten said. "We have kept our end of the deal, but now after 20 years BHP is trying to use this agreement to break their promise of job security to employees."
About 6,000 AWU BHP steelworkers across all operations in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia will, at the start of their shift, stop work for 24 hours on Monday, December 12.
National secretary of the AWU, Bill Shorten, said security of employment agreements were the most important provisions in past EBAs at the company's major sites during the past 20 years. The last agreement expired late August.
"In the past we gave a commitment to lift productivity and develop a process for resolving disputes in exchange for BHP giving a commitment to maintain steelmaking in Australia and agree to no enforced retrenchments," Bill Shorten said. "We have kept our end of the deal, but now after 20 years BHP is trying to use this agreement to break their promise of job security to employees."
About 6,000 AWU BHP steelworkers across all operations in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia will, at the start of their shift, stop work for 24 hours on Monday, December 12.