By James Vassilopoulos
SYDNEY — In a legal victory for the National Union of Workers (NUW), the Federal Court on August 27 ruled that Davids, the wholesale grocer, must reinstate 52 workers sacked from its Silverwater and Blacktown warehouses.
The workers had been sacked for what the company calls "serious misconduct" — picketing to protect their jobs and conditions. Union members began to return to work on August 28.
The workers have been locked out for almost eight weeks, following a strike over the company's attempt to increase the casualisation of the work force, increase the hours worked each week and abolish some penalty rates.
Justice Tony North issued an interim order to reinstate the workers, pending a hearing in early September. The case, initiated by the NUW, will determine whether the workers have been wrongfully sacked.
Sources in the NUW report that negotiations with the company are progressing. The company has dropped its claim that the working week be increased from 36 to 38 hours. It has also dropped its attempt to abolish penalty rates. The union has agreed to extend the span of working hours from 6am to 6pm, to 6am to 7pm.
The main sticking point is casualisation. Currently, the number of casuals employed is limited to 30% of the work force in peak times and 15% in off-peak times. Davids wanted 50% to be casuals, but now is pushing for 35%.
An increase in the percentage of casuals would reduce labour costs and weaken the union. Union activists' jobs would be at risk.
A boycott campaign by unionists and community supporters against Jewel supermarkets, owned by Davids, has applied pressure to the company. Seventeen shops are being leafleted each week. The Merrylands store in Sydney's west reported its lowest sales ever during the leafleting. A number of shops have been forced to close temporarily.
Workers at a rally at the Davids warehouse at Blacktown on August 28 insisted that the fight is far from over. Paul Gibson, the state Labor member for Londonderry, told the rally that Labor premier Bob Carr has refused to return his calls requesting support for the workers.