You can’t fight big companies by yourself
Originally from northern Victoria, Chris Walsh works as a UHT milk processor at the Devondale Murray Goulburn plant at Edith Creek in north-western Tasmania. Alongside his National Union of Workers colleagues, he is about to embark on an enterprise bargaining campaign to bring the co-operative’s Tasmanian employees onto the same agreement, with the same conditions, as its Victorian workers.
“I’ve lived up there [northern Victoria] all my life. I worked at the Wodonga abattoirs for a number of years, was involved with the union there, and I went to various jobs, casual work here and there where I could get it, and then started with a company called Rocla and spent I think six or seven years with them, making concrete pipes.
“I spent two years with Murray Goulburn at Kiewa and then my partner applied for a warehouse position down at Edith Creek.
“We went down and checked it out before we decided to move, and while we were there they offered me a job as well and we thought that was a good opportunity to try something different.
“It’s a lot more laid back lifestyle, it’s a beautiful part of the world down there, quite nice. We’ve met a lot of nice people, made some pretty good friends down there.
“We’re the best dairy country in Australia down there. There’s always rain, we’ve got plenty of water, plenty of cows.
“At Edith Creek, we do everything from custard to milk, protein drinks. We would produce around a million litres a week. It can get up to more just depending on demand.
“When we first moved there, it was probably only about 90 people. They’ve put in a few new machines, new lines, spent a bit of money and now it’s probably close to 120 people.”
A battle lies ahead
“It went pear shaped there when we first got there and we had a big struggle with management. We were told we’d be on the same wages, but when we got there, the wages were completely different. About $6 an hour difference.
“We started a big fight down there and that’s got us to where we are today, trying to get Murray Goulburn Tasmania, Edith Creek, onto the Victorian sites’ agreement.
“Our EBA runs out at the end of this month [September]. We’re not fighting for pay parity at the moment because it wouldn’t be viable for the company to do that, but we want the same conditions because the conditions are a lot different, some of their conditions are a lot better than we’ve got in Tassie.
“There’s only two claims we’re going for which is a pay rise, and to be part of the Victorian agreement. We’re seeking 9%. Victoria went for six. It’s just to bridge that gap towards pay parity.
“We’re supported by all the Victorian sites as well, Victorian members. Last EBA, the Victorian sites were trying to get Tassie on [to the same agreement] to no avail and this time we’re trying again. But the company is refusing to talk about Edith Creek
“They [management] will be pretty hard I reckon. They’ve already stated in the meetings with the Victorians they don’t want Edith Creek on the agreement at all. They’re not recognising Tassie is part of the Murray Goulburn family, they like to call it. That’s still to be discussed a bit further.
“I reckon it will [come down to a blue]. There’s a fair chance that the Victorian sites will probably want to strike to get Tassie onto the agreement.”
Values instilled by his grandfather
“I’ve been a union member ever since I left school and started work. It’s just something my grandfather sort of pushed on me — you should be in a union, they look after you.
“He worked a lot of different jobs. He used to work on the old CRB [Country Roads Board] and PMG [Postmaster General], which is now Telstra. He’s always been a Labor voter and a union supporter and it’s something I grew up with seeing him do all of that sort of stuff. He was always helping other people when they were in trouble.
“He always said you should be a part of a union because they look after you and you can’t fight big companies by yourself, you need people to help you and unions are the best way to do it.
“There was no sort of union involvement at all at Edith Creek when we arrived, I think they had three union members. Kiewa was pretty much 100%, I don’t think there were too many who weren’t members.
“When we first got there . . . the company refused to recognise us, but now we probably have 65–70 per cent membership. It’s been a lot of hard work. A lot of the work was done by my partner, Sue. She was the only [NUW] delegate on the site and got a lot of people signed up.
“I think the biggest problem, because they were so far behind, they didn’t understand what the union was about and I think management put it in their heads that we were bullies and we were only there to cause trouble but when you sit down and talk to people, that’s not what we’re there for.
“We’re not there to cause trouble, we’re there to look after the workers.”
“We just show them the benefits of what you can do if everybody sticks together. If we all stand up as one the company realises it can’t bully us and treat us unfairly.
“A lot of the people we’ve had join up were in a predicament where management was picking on them a little bit, but as soon as they find out they’re union members, management back off completely.”
Published on 26 September 2014.
