Textile Workers resist AWAs

indonesia / philippines / australia | workplace struggles | news report Sunday November 05, 2006 11:43 by Dim. - \

Solidarity needed

A group of the 300 textile workers who are being told they must sign AWAs to have a job met today and spoke out about their plight.

A group of the 300 textile workers who are being told they must sign AWAs to have a job met today and spoke out about their plight. The workers who are members of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) are employed by Feltex Australia Pty Ltd, a carpet company recently placed into receivership by the ANZ Bank who are owed approximately $130 million. The receivers have signed a contract of sale to sell the company to a Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd subsidiary shelf company.

There was a Community Solidarity Breakfast last Friday 3 November, 6.00am - 7.00am, in Tottenham, Melbourne

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A group of the 300 textile workers who are being told they must sign AWAs to have a job met today and spoke out about their plight.

The workers who are members of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) are employed by Feltex Australia Pty Ltd, a carpet company recently placed into receivership by the ANZ Bank who are owed approximately $130 million. The receivers have signed a contract of sale to sell the company to a Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd subsidiary shelf company.

Feltex receivers have advised the 300 production workers’ union, the TCFUA, that Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd intends to require the workers to sign individual contracts (AWAs) as a condition of them maintaining their current jobs with the new company.

If they refuse to sign the AWAs they will have no jobs and be paid none of their redundancy entitlements.

Michele O’Neil, State Secretary of the TCFUA, said today, «Godfrey Hirst plans to exploit John Howard’s Workchoices legislation by stripping away 300 workers’ current rights and protections under a collective Union agreement.»

«Feltex workers and their families have already had to suffer extreme insecurity over the future of their jobs and entitlements. Many of our members are migrant women workers who have worked a lifetime for this company. Now, when they are at their most vulnerable, the choice they are being threatened with under Workchoices is to sign away their rights in an AWA or have no job and no redundancy pay. So much for existing conditions being ‘protected by law’ through the Workchoices transmission of business provisions.»

The company offering the AWAs is a subsidiary shelf company of Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd. The Godfrey Hirst group are the makers of Hycraft, Carisse and Godfrey Hirst carpets. They are purchasing Australia’s other largest carpet manufacturer, Feltex Australia, who are the makers of Invicta, Redbook, Minster, Kensington and Feltex carpets.

Ms O’Neil said, «The company gave an ultimatum to the Union to either agree to radically change workers’ rights and conditions or the workers would be made to sign AWAs to keep their jobs. I want to ask the Prime Minister what choice do low paid, hard working textile workers have faced with this type of corporate strategy.»

Listen in to radio 3cr http://www.3cr.org.au 855 am dial - Saturday morning 7.30am to 9am - Solidarity Breakfast radio show for update

see also http://www.unionsolidarity.org