The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has been fighting on two fronts in the south-west of Western Australia. One dispute is with the company that operates the Collie Power Station, Transfield Worley. The other is with AGC, an engineering firm that provides maintenance services for mining company Alcoa. Both are defensive struggles, union members being forced to take industrial action to hang on to current conditions.

The AGC dispute affected five sites. The most militant actions occurred at Alcoa’s Wagerup and Pinjarra refineries. Alcoa had tried to use its contractor AGC to drive down the pay of maintenance workers at its sites. The company cried poor despite recently winning multi-million dollar contacts with Chevron, Yara, Barrick Gold and Woodside.

During three months of negotiations, AGC refused to improve on an offer of a below inflation 2 percent pay rise. It locked workers out of the Pinjarra refinery under the ruse of a “health and safety review”. AMWU members were not deterred, responding with four-hour rolling stoppages and pickets. Alcoa called in the police to disrupt the picket, but workers held firm. On 1 September they announced victory, winning a pay rise that kept up with inflation, along with uncapped severance pay.

At the Collie Power Station, electrical and mechanical workers are still on strike. They have been in negotiations for four months with no sign of a favourable resolution. Disgusted with Transfield Worley’s stalling tactics, ETU and AMWU members have been striking since 26 August. Their industrial action could leave up to 350,000 homes across the state without power.

One of the central issues is overtime. Currently, workers are paid 10 hours’ overtime a week to be on call to perform emergency or critical maintenance work after ordinary hours. However, management has routinely been requiring workers to perform standard preventive maintenance after hours. The company has refused to respect that the purpose of the overtime clause is limited to emergency maintenance. Citing “market conditions”, the company has also refused to offer workers a pay rise that matches inflation.

Striking workers are maintaining a picket at the power station and on 5 September sent a protest delegation to Transfield Worley’s regional office in Bunbury. 

[Andrew Martin is an AMWU member.]