SPC workers won’t sell out conditions

If you believe Tony Abbott, SPC Ardmona workers have only themselves to blame. As the jobs of 500 cannery workers hang in the balance Tony Abbott says it’s their “extraordinary” and “over generous” enterprise agreement that has driven the company to the wall.

Mark Owens sees it differently. He’s worked at the cannery in the Victorian town of Shepparton for 24 years. Last year as a full time production worker on afternoon shift he grossed $47,000.

Mark is also the president of the Goulburn Valley Trades and Labour Council. He’s speaks to Red Flag about the situation. “I’ve seen in other industries where people have given away conditions and they’ve still lost their job. I’ve seen it across the board”, he says.

Abbott has singled out the SPC workers’ redundancy entitlements as “lucrative”. Mark’s definition of lucrative differs from the prime minister’s. If they are put out of a job, he explains, SPC workers’ severance entitlements are calculated at four weeks for every year they’ve worked at the company.

“If someone is employed there full time tomorrow and is sacked next year, he walks out with four weeks. I’m sure that employee would like to trade that for what Tony Abbott and his people get when they walk out of parliament.

“Obviously he’s never been a working class person and had to look for another job in between jobs; obviously his nest has always been pretty secure.”

Then there’s the cannery’s heat policy which has also come in for federal cabinet scrutiny. Mark explains that on a burning hot day the temperature inside the cannery can easily reach 50 degrees. Not happy to “just sit on the line and melt away”, SPC workers have won an “extraordinary” condition that entitles them to a 10 minute water break every hour. Mind you, Mark clarifies, the canning line doesn’t stop. Only when you can get someone to cover you can you take a drink. “Now, is this reasonable?”, he asks.

An announcement about the future of the cannery will be made within weeks. After talking with Mark you couldn’t describe him as hopeful about their jobs. He’s says that people are worried, “Good, bad or indifferent they just want to know”.

But he’s determined that, no matter what happens to this cannery, conditions are not for sale. “These were hard fought for for generations ... I don’t want to be in a nursing home at 80 and having my little can of SPC spaghetti dribbling down my chin and this 19 year old kid comes up to me and says, ‘You were the trades and labour president in Shepparton. Thank you for making me work 60 hour weeks, thank you for making me work for $16 an hour and cutting my lunch break from 40 minutes to 10 minutes because you couldn’t stand up’”.

“It’s much more than a monetary obligation, it’s a moral obligation. Do you sell out what you’ve got now and sell out the future?”