CFMEU Conducts First Strike on Rio Tinto's Pilbara Operations in 16 Years

Lisbeth Latham

Train drivers employed by Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore operations in transporting iron ore in the Pilbara struck on October 11 and will stage a 24-hour stoppage on October 22 .

The strike action, the first industrial action on a Rio Tinto project in the Pilbara for 16 years, is aimed at winning a union collective agreement between Rio Tinto and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), rather than the non-union agreement that Rio Tinto is pushing to replace the current Australian Workplace Agreement. Currently 39 of 315 train drivers are eligible to strike, however the CFMEU expects more to join in as their AWAs expire. Central to the dispute is Rio Tinto’s plan to implement automated train operations (ATOs).


The CFMEU’s draft agreement put forward in July includes three clauses on ATOs:

• The establishment of a consultative committee with equal numbers of management and employee representatives to review all aspects of the ATO implementation;
• No forced redundancies of existing rail employees as a result of ATOs;
• That ATO locomotives be set up by a qualified driver and accompanied on their route by a driver qualified to operate the route.

Additional clauses include:

• That the workers receive a minimum salary increase of no less than the wage price index for WA that year;
• That the market allowance of $20,000, which Rio Tinto had paid to help retain workers, be absorbed into the base salary;
• That changes in the roster can only be done by agreement with workers;
• Any changes in the roster require seven days notice.
  

Rio Tinto has refused to negotiate with unions. The company has attempted to defend this, by portraying the train drivers as greedy and threatening the future of Australia, in an attempt to undermine public support for the workers. Sam Walsh, chief executive of Iron Ore operations, told the October 10 Australian that these were the highest paid workers in the Pilbara on $160,000-$210,000, yet “they are seeking guaranteed wage increases of between 4.9per cent to 5.7per cent, which we wouldn’t agree to”.

Tony Maher, CFMEU mining division national president, said on October 14: “What the dispute in the Pilbara is really about is the right of all Australians to bargain collectively … the right to bargain collectively is a basic democratic right of all Australians, why should the train drivers in the Pilbara be any different?”

Originally published in Green Left Weekly #771

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Australian Construction Workers Fight For Democratic Rights

Lisbeth Latham

Australian construction unions have launched a new campaign demanding that the Australian Labor Party (ALP) government of Kevin Rudd abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Despite being elected on widespread working class anger against anti-union laws, the Rudd government have pledged to keep the ABCC in place at least until 2010, with the possibility it role be shifted to another government agency.


The ABCC was formed in 2005 following the passing of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act. Much of the legislation contained in the BCIIA had been recommendations of the 2001-2003 Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry (Royal Commissions are the highest level of public inquiry in Australia). It was established to investigate the “extent of unlawful activity in the construction industry”. Commissioner Terrance Cole found 392 incidents that might constitute of unlawful behavior in the industry over a seven year period. The vast majority of these were instances of unions holding on site union meetings, attempts to ensure all workers on sites were union members and work stoppages over unsafe working conditions. Thirty of the incidents were associated with employer behaviour, these were largely instances of employers paying strike pay. The terms of reference of the Royal Commission did not include examining unsafe work practices pursued by employers or the use of shelf companies which are closed down robbing workers of their entitlements.

REDUCING THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS
The BCIIA undermine the industrial effectiveness of Australia’s construction unions. In doing this it made illegal a wide range of previously legal industrial activity including:

• Banning collective agreements from including retrospective pay rises;
• Banning pattern bargaining, where unions seek common pay deals across hundreds of different employers;
• Increasing penalties for industrial action occurring outside bargaining periods to $110,000 Aud for unions and up to $22,000 for individuals;
• Requiring unions to hold secret ballots of their members before taking protected industrial action, including on urgent health and safety issues;
• Introducing a mandatory 21-day cooling off period after two weeks of protected industrial action;

In order to enforce the BCIIA, the ABCC was given extra-ordinary powers to investigate and prosecute workers. If the ABCC believes on reasonable grounds that a person has information or documents relevant to an investigation, or is capable of giving evidence relevant to investigation it can require a person to give the information, or documents or attend an interview. At an interview the ABCC can require a person to:

• Reveal all their phone and email records, whether of a business or personal nature;
• Report not only on their own activities, but those of their fellow workers;
• Reveal their membership of an organisation, such as a union;
• Report on discussions in private union meetings or other meetings of workers;
• The penalty for failing to hand over documents or answer all questions asked is six months imprisonment.

A TOUGH COP FOR A TOUGH INDUSTRY?
The Howard government, and now the Rudd government have justified the need for the ABCC, on the basis that the construction industry has a “culture of lawlessness”. However there is growing evidence that the ABCC focuses overwhelmingly on policing construction workers and their unions. Federal Court Justice Jeffrey Spender on October 8, said that the ABCC’s prosecution of the Queensland Plumbing Division of the Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union and its state secretary Brad O’Carroll, was “misconceived and completely without merit”, and if the “Commission was even handed in discharging its tasks of ensuring industrial harmony and lawfulness in the building and construction industry proceedings” would have launched against the company that the CEPU had been in dispute with.

TARGETING ORDINARY WORKERS
These laws have been impacting on ordinary construction workers across Australia. The largest case was the charging of 107 members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, following a strike by 400 CFMEU members of the in Western Australia following the sacking of the Health and Safety Officer on their work site. Of these workers, 87 of the workers were given fines of between $8,400 Aud and $10,000, Aud the ABCC had sort the maximum penalty of $22, 600 Aud.

A CFMEU vice president charged with coercing crane operators into negotiations faces six months jail time in December for refusing to appear before the commission.
The Australian trade union's say similar investigations have been little more than excuses for union-bashing politicians to seek publicity.

In September, police in Victoria state withdrew charges against a building worker after two years of investigation. The union member was fingered by the commission, which claimed he threatened to kill inspectors when they visited his worksite.

“They besmirched the name of an innocent man in a desperate attempt to portray construction unions as bullies and thugs,” said Dave Noonan, national secretary of the CFMEU. “It is a disgrace, an abuse of power and corruption of the political process.”

[For more information on the ABCC and the campaign against it visit http://www.rightsonsite.org.au/.]

This is an expanded version of an article that appeared in the November issue o f Labor Notes this version has been submitted to Union Syndicale Solidaires International the Journal of French Union Federation Union Syndicale Solidaires.

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Boeing workers strike

Lisbeth Latham

More than 26,000 members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) working at Boeing commercial plants in the US began strike action on September 6. The strike, which was supported by 87% of IAM members, followed Boeing’s insistence that a new contract include significant contract concessions. Boeing offered only an 11% wage over three years increase to workers; Boeing’s lowest paid workers receive just US$10 an hour.

At the same time, Boeing has been making massive profits. In 2007, Boeing posted a $4.1 billion profit, an increase of more than 300% over the past three years. Boeing profits have been driven by growing demand for its newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft, with $275 million in backorders.

Financial analysts estimate that Boeing is losing $100 million in revenue for each day of the strike. The IAM are using the strike to push for the reversal of outsourcing of parts production that has occurred since 2002. In September the Society of Professional Employees in Aerospace joined the IAM in pushing for Boeing to bring back jobs outsourced during early production of the Boeing’s new 787. SPEEA’s contract, covering 21,000 Boeing engineers, expires in December.

Originally published in Green Left Weekly #770

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New Dispute Looms As Actors’ Contracts Expire

Lisbeth Latham

On June 30, the collective agreements covering actors in the US television industry expired.

The negotiations for a new agreement, which started in mid-April, have grown increasingly heated. The tensions are not only between the large media conglomerates — represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), on the one hand, and the unions representing actors, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Arts (AFTRA), on the other — but between the unions themselves.


The central point that has emerged, as in the writers’ strike ealier this year, has been what the artists’ share of revenues (residuals) from “new media”, such as the internet, should be. The AFTRA have reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP for work on primetime television shows and have began balloting its 70,000 members on June 17, with results expected on July 8.

However, the SAG leadership argue that the AFTRA-endorsed agreement is inadequate as it allows non-union new media production. It also fails to increase the income of working actors from current projects; does not increase pension/health contributions enough; provides no increases in residuals from DVDs; eliminates most residuals for reruns of productions made for new media.

SAG’s leadership also argues that the AFTRA agreement will undercut the bargaining position of the SAG and have launched a campaign urging the 44,000 members of SAG who are dual members of the AFTRA to vote against the tentative agreement.

Both unions have involved prominent actors campaigning for their position in the ballot. Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin have publicly campaigned for a “yes” vote, while Jack Nicholson, Ben Stiller, Nick Nolte, Sean Penn and Viggo Mortensen have actively supported the SAG’s “no” campaign.

On July 2, the AMPTP made what it has referred to as a final offer to the SAG. The SAG negotiating team have requested until July 7 to review the offer.

The AMPTP have made a number of statements that the industry is facing a de facto actors’ strike. On June 29, SAG president Alan Rosenberg told the Associated Press: “We have taken no steps to initiate a strike authorization vote by the members of Screen Actors Guild.” He continued, “any talk about a strike or a management lockout at this point is simply a distraction”.

A strike authorisation would require 75% majority vote of SAG’s 122,000 members. SAG has informed its members that they should continue to work and that this work will be continued under the conditions of the expired contract.

Originally published in Green Left Weekly #757

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Left-wing labour conference attacked

Lisbeth Latham

Union members and labour activists attending the Labor Notes Conference dinner on April 12 were attacked by bus loads of staff and members of the Service Employees Industrial Union (SEIU) — wearing purple SEIU t-shirts — who forced their way into the conference venue in Dearborn, Michigan. In the ensuing melee a number of people were injured.


Labor Notes is a labour movement magazine that seeks to build union militancy, rank-and-file solidarity and has acted as a networking tool between reform groups in the US union movement. Since 1981, bi-annual conferences have been held to bring union activists together.

The 2008 conference, aimed at examining approaches to “Rebuild Labor’s Power”, attracted more than 1000 people from 21 countries, the largest conference since 1997.

The SEIU’s attack is a consequence of the growing bitter dispute between the SEIU and the California Nurses Association (CNA), and its affiliate the National Nurses Organising Committee, over the organisation of nurses in Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP) in Ohio.

The SEIU had negotiated for the CHP to approach the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union recognition ballot for registered nurses at nine of its hospitals in March. The SEIU was to be the only choice on the ballot.

Such a ballot would ordinarily be precipitated by a union membership card check to indicate that the union had support among the workforce. Such a check did not occurr. In response the CNA, which has also sought to organise nurses at the CHP, launched a campaign for nurses to be given a genuine choice in the union they join.

On March 12, days before the scheduled ballot, the SEIU announced that the ballot had been cancelled and launched a public attack on the CNA, accusing it of union-busting.

The attack on the Labor Notes Conference was aimed at disrupting the speech by CNA director Rose Anne DeMoro during the conference dinner. As there had been rumours of an attack on the conference, DeMoro cancelled her speech.

DeMoro had been invited to speak on CNA’s work to achieve the establishment of single-payer health insurance (where the government or a separate sub-contracting agency provides a universal system of health insurance) and successful campaign to win improved nurse-patient staffing ratios in California, which are the best in the US.

Mark Brenner, director of Labor Notes said “Labor Notes has always been a space for open debate, but when a union decides to engage in violence against their brothers and sisters, we draw a line. Violence within the labour movement is unacceptable and we call on the national leadership of SEIU, including President Andy Stern, to repudiate it.”

[For information on Labor Notes and the conference visit http://labornotes.org.]

Originally published in Green Left Weekly #747

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Writers’ strike holds strong

Lisbeth Latham

After starting contract negotiations on January 12, the Directors’ Guild of America reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on January 17. It was expected that the DGA and AMPTP would come to an agreement, but the swiftness of the deal was a surprise, especially because there were six months remaining on the existing contract.


The AMPTP, the corporate media and sections of the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) argue that the DGA’s new contract resolves many of the differences that are outstanding in the WGA contract, and that the main blockage in those negotiations has been the WGA leadership’s intransigence. There is, however, considerable doubt about whether the writers’ demands have been addressed, and their strike continues.

The only information about the directors’ agreement that has been made publicly available was that contained in a brief DGA media release on January 17, and the WGA is waiting for more information about the AMPTP’s offer before making a formal assessment.

On January 29, Doug Allen, the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) executive director and chief negotiator, and Allen Rosenberg, SAG president, wrote to SAG members criticising the DGA agreement. The SAG’s contract expires on June 30 and it is expected to make similar demands to those of the writers’ guild. In their letter to members, Allen and Rosenburg state: “Some have rushed to anoint their [the DGA] deal as the ‘solution’ for the entertainment industry. We believe that assessment is premature.”

A number of problems with the DGA contract are immediately apparent. The first is that many of the issues that are important to writers and other workers in the film and television industry — notably residuals (royalties) — are not as important to many DGA members, such as assistant directors, because they are not entitled to them.

Second, the offer made to the DGA around residuals is only 12.5% of the WGA’s claim. Third, many of the concessions made by the AMPTP contain large loopholes that make them virtually meaningless. For example, the deal offers the DGA jurisdiction over internet productions, yet the high minimum budget threshold excludes the majority of shows produced for the internet.

Despite these failings, the deal indicates the AMPTP’s willingness to begin to negotiate around issues of concern to writers, a shift that former WGA president John Wells and the SAG leadership attribute to the pressure created by the strike.

Nevertheless, there is also pressure on the WGA and its members to be “reasonable” and accept the studios’ offer, and the WGA on January 22 dropped its demand for automatic coverage for writers employed in reality TV and animation shows. Instead, the WGA will look for alternative avenues to unionise these workers.

The writers continue to hold strong, maintaining daily pickets outside the studios with support from other unions within and outside the industry. On January 28, more than 1000 people, including 500 SAG members, joined a Unity Day rally outside Fox Studios.

The big media conglomerates that make up the AMPTP are under a lot of pressure as their losses mount and new financial deadlines appear. The strike is estimated to have already cost the Los Angeles economy US$1.5 billion.

Although the WGA have agreed to not picket the Grammy Awards, no such agreement has been made for the Oscars on February 24. With the SAG and many individual actors, such as Viggio Mortensen and Daniel Day-Lewis, pledging not to cross WGA picket lines, the award ceremony looks likely to flop, potentially costing the American Broadcasting Company US$100 million.

Those award ceremonies that have gone ahead, such as the Screen Writers’ Guild Award, have become platforms for actors to pledge their support for the striking writers. In her award acceptance speech, Julie Christie said, “It’s lovely to receive an award from your own union, especially at a time when they’re being so forcefully reminded how important unions are”. Christie told Variety, “Without unions, we would not have anyone to represent us over injustices”.

Josh Brolin, in his acceptance speech, said: “It’s a risky movie, and it’s nice to have risky movies now, especially this year, which is a cornucopia of change … The studio system is backfiring and it’s fun for us actors.”

The AMPTP agreed on January 24 to begin informal discussions about reinitiating negotiations with the WGA. If the strike continues to the end of February, TV networks will face losing seasons of shows and the huge advertising revenue that comes with them.

While some producers have raised hopes that writers might return to work under an interim deal to allow the next TV season to be salvaged, this seems unlikely unless the AMPTP makes considerable concessions.

Originally published in Green Left Weekly #738

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Writers continue strike as directors negotiate contract

Lisbeth Latham

As Hollywood enters its award season, the 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) continue their strike that has shut down the majority of the US film and television industry since November 5. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has also begun to renegotiate its contract.


Despite the size of the strike, the large media conglomerates that make up the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have been resolute in their refusal to meet the demands by the WGA around writers’ receipt of residuals (royalties) from online distribution of their work. At present writers receive no residuals for the money generated from online distribution. The WGA is demanding that writers receive 2.5% of all revenue from online distribution.

In response, the AMPTP have offered writers nothing from online streaming and 0.3% for downloads, claiming that they make no money from internet distribution. This claim can be attributed to creative accounting, as according to United Hollywood blog, media conglomerates have told shareholders that they expect to generate in the next two years US$1 billion from downloads and $2 billion from streaming.

The determination of the WGA to win a share of residuals for internet transmission is based on writers experience of the bargaining in the 1980s over residuals from home video. The WGA accepted a low percentage only to see the market explode to the point where DVD sales are worth more than the combined revenue from the box office, TV syndication and international broadcasting rights. Peter Grosz, a writer for The Colbert Report, told Labor Notes in November that “we learned the lesson on DVDs. Producers won the battle 20 years … but we want to win the war.”

Wider significance
While the immediate consequence of the dispute is the income of writers, any gains made will flow on to all workers in the film and television industry. This is of particular importance for film crews, who are not entitled to an individual share of residuals, but whose collective share helps to fund health and other benefits. As a result it is expected that for each cent that writers win as a residual, the companies will pay out 12 cents. It is this knowledge that is driving the AMPTP to bargain hard.

Since the strike began WGA members and supporters have been demonstrating their collective strength. This has included staffing picket lines outside studios, and demonstrations including the mass rally of 4000 outside Fox studios on November 9. Members of other unions in the industry have supported the strike.

The Golden Globes award night on January 13 was scaled down to a press conference after plans by writers to picket the event caused high profile actors, such as Cate Blanchet, George Clooney and Johnny Depp, to stay away rather than cross picket lines. Similar actions are being threatened against the Academy Awards scheduled for February.

Employer Response
AMPTP have attempted to break the confidence of the striking workers, including by launching a negative PR campaign. The most significant attempt to break the strike has been the attempt to keep new shows being produced in order to maintain revenue. This has included a large increase in the number of reality TV shows, however the bulk of the flagship late night talk shows returned on January 2. The majority came back without writers, and largely without stars who have refused to be booked on shows until the writers return. This has reduced the shows to booking each others hosts and such quality entertainment as host Conan O’Brien seeing how long he could make his wedding ring spin.

There were two exceptions — Jay Leno and David Letterman.

Leno, a WGA member, breached the terms of the WGA contract by writing his own material. Letterman, on the other hand, returned with writers after reaching his own agreement with the WGA. Letterman had also continued to pay the shows employees, except the writers, throughout the strike.

There is mounting pressure for a settlement to the dispute. There have now been four side contract deals in addition to that with Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Company. These allow for the development and re-writing of scripts for the production of new films while other companies and studios wait for the strike to be settled. These side arrangements will be superseded by any new contact between the WGA and the AMPTP.

Directors’ Contract
The contract negotiations between the DGA and the AMPTP is seen by media pundits as a significant element in the strike. A quick settlement without an online residuals deal is seen as a potential way in which the position of the WGA could be undermined. The DGA is not seen as being as militant as the WGA, and also residuals are not seen as important to directors.

This is because many of the big name directors sign contracts where the up-front payments are so large residuals are insignificant. These directors are thought to be willing to pass up residuals in favour of larger up-front fee payments, an option the AMPTP would prefer as it would not have the same flow on effect as residual payments. In addition, assistant directors, who make up 40% of the DGA’s membership, have no entitlement to residuals.

While the outcome of DGA contract negotiations will impact on the writers confidence, Grosz told Labor Notes: “This strike is for the future. The internet is too big, too important to buckle on this. What we are asking for is so simple and so fair. If they get paid, we get paid.”

[For more information on the strike visit http://www.unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/ and the WGA’s website.

Originally published in Green Left Weekly #736

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