"We know that the boss doesn’t really care about the law.” Mitch (not his real name) has good reason to say this. Last week, he and four others were sacked by Melbourne-based pizza company Della Rosa after questioning their wage rates.

After months of mistreatment, this time they took a stand. With their union, the National Union of Workers, they fought and they won.

The conditions at Della Rosa have never been great. The work is repetitive and draining. Mitch describes the production line: “There’s the guy that was making the sauce, another guy, actually two guys that were making the pizza base and another guy taking the pizzas and putting them in the boxes.”

It’s not uncommon to do this for 60 hours or more a week. “After 12 hours of working you’re a little bit tired”, Mitch says. “The work is really hard. I saw in the four months that I have been here a lot of people coming in and going out because the work conditions are not that good. And the job is pretty hard at night.”

Standing out the front of Della Rosa in the northern suburbs of Melbourne in the early hours of 16 April, I ask how the boss treats them when they’re inside. “We always live in the terror that if you do something wrong or if you go and ask something from the boss then he’s gonna sack you. He doesn’t want anyone to know nothing.”

“I can get really angry the way he treats us”, Mitch says half laughing. He goes on to describe his manager punching a table when he was talking to one of the workers. “That got me really angry – because we are people, not slaves.”

Protesting with their supporters outside the factory, the workers make their views known to the tune of “That’s Amore”: “When you work overtime and they don’t pay a dime, Della Rosa/When they call in the cops ’cos they don’t give a toss, Della Rosa …”

By the end of the day management has conceded. The sacked workers are reinstated. An investigation into wages at the factory has also been launched and there is a commitment to back pay if the workers are found to have been short-changed. Management will also enter negotiations to reach a new agreement with workers and the union.

Emma Kerin from the NUW is quick to point out that management’s word is not always enough: “We need to make sure it happens.”

To anyone reading about their fight, Mitch has this to say: “The people that do these things, they should be stopped. Happiness is not only for rich people. It must be achieved by everyone.”