Nestlé workers deserve the cream
Hundreds of manufacturing workers at a Nestlé factory in Campbellfield, Melbourne, are striking to defend and improve their pay and conditions. After months of negotiations with a management team that seems determined to attack them, the workers have resorted to industrial action.
Led by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, they take a one-hour stop-work at the start of each of the factory’s three shifts. The strikes are the first industrial action at the factory for nearly 30 years.
As the action started on Thursday, well over 100 workers from the afternoon shift gathered in groups outside the gate. Dozens of AMWU flags and banners greeted cars and trucks driving past on Sydney Road, with plenty of beeps and waves in solidarity. Another group of workers gathered near the main entrance, ready to argue with those refusing to participate in the strike and to greet their comrades finishing their day shift. Managers hid in the office behind tinted glass, monitoring the scene but powerless to intervene.
The industrial campaign is focused on three issues. First is the attempt by the company to rewrite existing rostering arrangements, introducing compulsory twelve-hour and weekend shifts for all workers. One maintenance worker explained that the proposal includes the possibility of working five twelve-hour shifts in a row! This would be gruelling in any work, let alone blue-collar labour. Many railed against the compulsory weekend overtime: “Sometimes we take the overtime shifts for the extra cash”, one of the factory’s twelve union delegates told Red Flag. “But it needs to be our choice—we gotta have time to spend with our families.”
Second is the issue of pay. The rising cost of living hits these workers hard, just like everyone else. Many workers said that supermarket prices, mortgages and bills keep them up at night. Management is offering a 3.5 percent pay rise, but the union is fighting for “substantially more”, according to AMWU organiser Chris Spindler.
The final issue concerns the union being consulted about workplace changes before they’re introduced. The current agreement basically allows the company to implement changes first and ask for permission later. Workers want more of a say.
Spirits were high on the first day of what looks to be a serious fight against a multinational corporation that makes squillions each year. Yet this strike shows that without the efforts of workers in factories and farms across the world, Nestlé would be nothing.
Show your support for the Nestlé workers by turning up to the strike on weekdays at 6:30am, 2:30pm or 10.30pm: 1585 Hume Highway, Campbellfield.
