Boeing Workers Seek Vote

Date: 09 September 2005

The 29 maintenance engineers locked in an industrial dispute for 100 days with their employer Boeing have voted to seek a secret ballot to determine support for a collective agreement.

AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten said this morning's mass meeting of the engineers, based at the RAAF's Williamtown base near Newcastle, had resolved to apply to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission for a secret ballot.

Mr Shorten said the engineers believed the ballot of aircraft maintenance engineers and other technicians based at Williamtown would provide a true picture of employees' views.

"Our application for a secret ballot will be a litmus test for Boeing, which has blindly argued that the majority of its workforce prefers to be on individual contracts," Mr Shorten said.

"If Boeing is genuinely interested in supporting the majority view of its workforce, there is no better way for it to determine that view than by agreeing to a secret ballot.

"The ballot would provide Boeing with impartial advice from its workforce about how they would like to be treated, which it would be silly to ignore."

Given Boeing's refusal to have the dispute arbitrated by the Commission, the secret ballot could provide a means of resolving the dispute, Mr Shorten said.

"While this dispute is allowed to drag on and on, it takes a toll on our members and their families, and disrupts maintenance work on Australia's FA18s, which are vital for our security."

AWU Newcastle Secretary Kevin Maher said the AWU would be requesting that the Australian Industrial Relations Commission consider the AWU's request for a secret ballot as a matter of urgency.

"The Prime Minister and his government have taken no responsibility whatsoever for trying to resolve this dispute, even though they've been happy enough to spend taxpayers' money on advertising saying that all Australian workers have the right to choose a collective agreement," Mr Maher said.

"Our members are doing what they can to bring this dispute to a head, and look forward to exercising their democratic rights by voting in a secret ballot."

For further information

Contact:	Ainslie Gowan
Union:	The Australian Workers' Union National Office
Phone:	03 8327 0882
Fax:	03 8327 0888
Email:	ainslie.gowan@awu.net.au
WWW:	http://www.awu.net.au

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