Workers at Essoβs Longford gas plant in Victoria have been picketing for more than 470 days after the company sacked 230 workers and demanded they reapply for their jobs under a new agreement that would slash pay and conditions.
The dispute is one of the longest industrial stop work action in Australia in several decades, and according to Esso workers and trade unions, the current industrial relations laws are allowing bosses to get away with it.
Troy Carter, an Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) delegate at Esso, said workers βare hamstrung by both the anti-union Essential Services Act, and the secondary boycott lawsβ, which make solidarity action by other unionists in support of striking workers illegal.
Carter was speaking at the βChange the rules for Esso workersβ public meeting held in the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Hall on September 22. The meeting was organised by the Right to Strike NSW committee and endorsed by various unions.
AMWU NSW state secretary Steve Murphy addressed the meeting, saying: βNot only do we need the right to withdraw our labour, but we need to change the whole system of industrial laws in this country.
βThe top end of town are making huge profits, while workers are facing wage cuts.
βThese laws are written by the bosses, not the workers. But we are now seeing a real mood for change growing among working people again.
βLabor wonβt take real action unless we pressure them to do so. We need to continue the campaign to Change the Rules well beyond the next election.β
Chris Lovely an MUA representative for workers at the Hutchison terminal at Port Botany, said: βWe urgently need the right to strike to defend our rights.
βOn the waterfront, our safety and conditions are constantly under threat. The Fair Work Act needs to be ripped up and completely re-written.
βWe demand that our right to strike be given back, or we'll take it back.β
Those who attended the meeting were urged to get along to the 'Change the Rules' union mobilisations planned for Sydney and Melbourne on October 23.