Page 9 - ETU Journal Autumn 2017

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THE ETU > SUMMER 2016 9
and have now
JUN 2016
16
ETU took CUB to the FWC to discover that the new ‘Catalyst’ Agreement by Programmed meant the 55 could reapply for their jobs at up to 65% less pay
ABC Radio National uncovered that the ‘Catalyst’ Agreement was signed by three casuals in WA
SEP 2016
2
Programmed walked away from its contract with CUB
A
BOYCOTT
CUB BEERS
See back page
attend a meeting at an of-site hotel instead.
t an of-site meeting the next day they were sacked on the spot. They were told they could all reapply
#BoycottCUB
On 9 June at 5 pm the entire maintenance workforce at Carlton
& United Breweries’ Abbottsford site – 55 qualiied tradesmen, including ive apprentices – were told not to attend work the next day, but to
been on the picket line in Abbottsford for more than ive months. They are holding irm despite the extreme uncertainty for themselves and their families.
Boycotting CUB
Public awareness and participation in our campaign to boycott CUB products until the workers are reinstated is growing, with trades and labour councils around the country holding public stalls and other activities in marginal seats and elsewhere.
In conjunction with the ACTU
and Trades Hall we have run a massive social media campaign
that has drawn tens of thousands of supporters to the boycott campaign. We have also run radio advertising and billboards to bring the devious, cruel and unjust actions of CUB to the attention of the general public.
A ight that affects us all
The labour hire tactics used by
CUB to slash workers’ wages and conditions are not new but do set
a new benchmark for corporate thuggery. The support for the CUB55 across Australia is not only about the injustice done to these workers. If we let an iconic company like CUB
get away with this, every corporation will see the
green light to do the same.
Until the laws are ixed to stop companies
exploiting labour hire tactics, all we can do
is act collectively to expose and
obstruct unethical
corporate conduct
until it's put right.
AUG 2016
28
HOW YOU CAN HELP THE CUB55
Join the boycott of CUB products
until the 55 workers are reinstated.
Take the pledge at: australianunions.org.au/boycott_cub
Take a selie and post it to social media with the hashtag:
for their exact same job with the new contractor – without knowing who the contractor was or what their employment terms would be.
When eventually revealed, the combined increase in working hours, reduction in hourly rates, penalty rates and allowances such as overtime, nightshift and on-call amounted to a 65 per cent reduction in wages for these workers – who are on similar wages and conditions to the majority of A Grade electricians employed in Victoria.
Meanwhile, CUB had secretly recruited and lown in temporary replacement workers from WA, put them up in a four-star hotel, to be bussed into the brewery behind blackened windows
from the very same day.
The picket – Fort Justice
The CUB55 refused to take up their former positions
at the massively reduced wages and conditions