THE Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) is playing a very dangerous public relations game in its current wage negotiations with Simplot.
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In any battle between workers and a multi-national corporation, you would expect public support to be very much with the staff.
But that may not be the case here.
The AMWU yesterday claimed Simplot management was taking a hostile approach to negotiations which, it said, centre on a modest suite of demands.
Among those demands, though, is a pay rise claim of two per cent above the consumer price index – a claim almost unheard of in today’s economic climate.
Even worse, the AMWU is making the claim at a time when Simplot is clearly struggling to compete with foreign imports – so much so that more than 100 workers have lost their jobs in the past year.
Against such a backdrop, the current wage claim not only looks greedy, but also incredibly foolhardy.
The worst possible result for the union, the workers and the wider Bathurst community would be for Simplot management to walk away from the negotiating table altogether, and pushing them to the brink may not the best tactic.
Conditions remain tough for all Australian manufacturers and you don’t have to look far to find thousands of local casualties.
The car industry, in particular, has been gutted as local producers find they cannot compete with imports.
It is in the nation’s interest to ensure our food manufacturers do not suffer the same fate, and the way forward should be co-operation – not antagonism – between workers and management.
We just hope the AMWU realises – before it’s too late – that it also has an important role to play.