Is Arnott’s a fair dinkum company?

Date: 12 May 2004

Arnott's biscuit workers at the Virginia factory in Brisbane want this quintessentially Aussie brand name to demonstrate they still believe in their fair dinkum Australian roots.

"We've asked Arnott's management to live up to our fair go values in the way we negotiate our collective agreement," Irene Monro, Queensland LHMU Assistant Secretary said.

" Nearly 700 workers will attend stop work meetings over the next couple of days to remind this company about the Australian values of a fair go and what it means to be fair dinkum.

"The Arnott's enterprise agreement expired a fortnight ago without any sign of a new agreement on the horizon despite months and months of talks."

The stop-work meetings are being held today (Wednesday May 12) and possibly Thursday (May 13) to discuss what the members of 4 unions want to do next. These four unions are the LHMU, AMWU, ETU and TWU.

The unions are scheduled to meet with Arnott's management this afternoon to report to them the results of the first of the stop-work meetings.

Key Arnott's Products

" We're proud of what we produce for our loyal consumers. We would really like our management to return some of that loyalty to their workforce by improving our meagre working conditions."

"The Virginia site is the most profitable site in the Arnott's stable and arguably the most profitable of the American giant multinational company, Campbell soup, who now own the Arnott's brand name," Irene Monro said

Job security undermined

" Working families in Brisbane believe our Aussie lifestyle is increasingly undermined by companies who are too ready to turn their back on our values and adopt foreign strategies to increase their profit margins as they cut back on employee conditions.

" We are deeply worried about the companies refusal to negotiate a decent redundancy clause and their refusal to agree to allowing casuals to have the right to move to permanent status after six months of work at the site.

" Our members are worried about the use of labour hire companies. We want to see them excluded from the site and the workers provided with the security of being directly employed by Arnott's.

" Arnott's management and their American bosses should negotiate a fair deal for their Australian workers," Irene Monro said.

" Our famous name lives off its image as the great Aussie brand name - now it should live up to this image by advocating a fair go for its modestly paid workers. "

The LHMU proudly represents around 130,000 hard working women and men throughout Australia

Irene Monro, Queensland LHMU Assistant Secretary 0419 767 786 or Richard Alcorn, LHMU Arnott's Organiser, 0419 654 936

For further information

Contact:	Andrew Casey
Union:	Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union
Phone:	8204 7206
Fax:	92821 4480
Email:	andrewc@lhmu.org.au
WWW:	http://www.lhmu.org.au/

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