140 workers locked out at Stegbar

Date: 05 September 2002

Window manufacturer Stegbar has locked out 140 of its employees this morning after enterprise bargaining agreement talks broke down over job casualisation.

The Australian Workers' Union National Secretary Bill Shorten labelled the Melbourne company's actions as hostile, anti-worker and un-Australian.

"Rather than try and work through the outstanding issues, this company has turned its back on its workforce which consists of people who have made it a success,'' he said.

The workers, members of the AWU and forestry division of the CFMEU, are seeking a limit on job casualisation and an improved redundancy clause.

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission earlier this week rejected Stegbar's bid to suspend the bargaining period of the CFMEU forestry division.

Mr Shorten said it was unacceptable to workers to give in to company demands to remove a cap on the number of casuals. "Unfettered casualisation is the enemy of job security,'' he said.

"Locking out workers is no solution because when it comes to resolve workers can go one day longer than the company,'' he said.

Mr Shorten said some of the employees had served the company for 38 years. "It is un-Australian for a company to turn on its loyal workers who have dedicated years of hard work to Stegbar, by locking them out simply because they seek job security," he said.

The locked-out workers have set up a peaceful protest outside their Melbourne workplace on Stud Rd at Rowville.

For further information

Contact:	Andrea Carson
Union:	Australian Workers Union (National Office)
Phone:	039 3298733
Contact Mobile:	0407 041933
Fax:	03 9329 2871
Email:	awu@iprimus.com.au
WWW:	www.awu.net.au

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