Alcoa workers locked out
BY ANTHONY BENBOW
PERTH — Five hundred workers at aluminium company Alcoa's operations here have been locked out since early April as part of a union-busting exercise.
The workers, members of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), are not directly employed by Alcoa, instead working for sub-contractors. Nevertheless, they are convinced that it is Alcoa which is directing the operation.
Picket lines, which are still legally "protected" under industrial relations law, have been set up outside Alcoa's main refinery at Kwinana. "Flying pickets" have targeted the Pinjarra mine site, Alcoa's corporate office in Booragoon and the railway line leading into the refinery.
The workers' actions have slowed company operations, as many Alcoa workers not affected by the lockout have refused to cross the lines. The locked-out workers have received no wages for weeks and are relying on union strike funds.
The dispute began when enterprise bargaining negotiations broke down. Workers were asking for a modest 12% rise over three years. While some of the sub-contractors were prepared to accept this, Alcoa was adamantly opposed.
Sub-contractors have offered to unlock the gates and allow work to resume — but only if the unions give away their right to protected industrial action. The workers are standing firm.