Community alliance wins the day

by Tony Oldfield

Workers employed at the Mountain Maid factory at Batlow in rural NSW won an 
important victory, securing their entitlements and conditions in the face 
of an Oakdale type closure.

The 46 food cannery workers, members of the AMWU (Food Division), became 
suspicious when they noticed strangers visiting the Batlow factory to 
inspect production equipment and harvesters.

After some inquiries, they found out the equipment was up for sale. 
Mountain Maid had previously been in the hands of the receivers and the 
subject of a rescue package.

Suspicions were strengthened when local fruit growers told them that 
Mountain Maid had made no plans for future crops. Growers contracted to 
provide fruit for Mountain Maid need to plan crops a season ahead.

The workers decided they needed to act quickly after the publicity given to 
the plight of the Oakdale miners. Questions put to management failed to 
bring a satisfactory response.

The union then wrote to the corporate head of the parent company Staged 
Developments but still only got vague answers. So a mass meeting was called 
to report the management's response and address members' concerns.

They decided unanimously that the company was feeding them bullshit and 
that they needed to act quickly to protect their entitlements. The only 
thing of any immediate value they had to bargain with was the stock in the 
warehouse, with an approximate value of $5 million. The meeting agreed to 
black ban it.

This move put local management under pressure, who then tried to intimidate 
the storeworkers implementing the black ban.

Work continued but when workers learnt of the intimidation of the fork-lift 
drivers, everyone downed tools.

Rather than allow management victimise a small number of workers, they 
would all picket the warehouse.

Management promptly listed the dispute in the Industrial Relations 
Commission.

In fact the dispute was listed twice, on each occasion the Commission urged 
the workers to lift the picket and return to work. But they remained out, 
refusing to return until they had concrete evidence that their entitlements 
were secure.

They continued the picket for two weeks, building tremendous support 
amongst the local community.

Two police were sent to break up the picket but decided that it was an 
impossible task.

Support came from local farmers. small businesses, the local doctor, Bega 
Councillors and other workers who all visited the picket line.

Mountain Maid management threatened legal action against picket. The union 
and the workers responded by mobilising public support, a meeting was 
called in the local town with 75 percent of the population showing their 
support.

The message was loud and clear and the company was forced to back off, the 
local paper, radio and television station were forced to give sympathetic 
coverage to the picket, Mountain Maid was well and truly isolated.

After lengthy and exhausting negotiations with the parent company, Staged 
Developments, an agreement was reached, where the workers' entitlements 
were secured by a Deed of Guarantee, a registered legal document, the 
workers' current conditions were secured and letters were exchanged 
assuring no victimisation of activists.

Later investigations confirmed the workers' suspicions. It was the 
intention of the parent company to transfer ownership of Mountain Maid to 
the Managing Director — an underhand method of transferring the debt and 
the responsibility for workers' entitlements to a shelf company with few 
assets.

The irony was that C+BUS, the building and construction industry.. 
superannuation fund, has investments in Mountain Maid's parent company. The 
majority of the company is owned by David Mariner (Staged Developments) of 
theatre fame.

Jenny Dowell, the NSW Food Division Secretary of the AMWU said, "the 
dispute was a good lesson of what can be achieved when the wider community 
and the union form an alliance".

She said, "it showed that when workers' entitlements are threatened, they 
must act on their early suspicions, they must confront the boss and keep 
the pressure on until they get the right outcome.