For all Arrium Workers and Contractors
For all Arrium Workers, Contractors and Suppliers
Despite the risk in jeopardising Australian national interest, Arrium administrator KordaMantha is proceeding to the final stage in selling our only integrated structural steelmaker, the company that you work for, to foreign buyer.
If it goes as planned, all the strategic steel, rails, ports and distribution assets will be sold to and subsequently be controlled by our foreign competitor.
With reference to Griffin coal mine fiasco (article attached below) for which Griffin coal mine was sold to an India company Lanco under KordaMantha’s administration in 2010 (does it sound familiar to Arrium administration?),
Are you aware of the possibility that your jobs with the future owner could be subject to
work in an environment in which Australian safety standards compromised by cutting corners and adopting manufacturing practices used elsewhere but not in Australia? (the attached article said Griffin coal mine protester voiced serious concerns about safety standards at the mine site)
have your entitlements been taken away by the new owner? (the attached article said some workers with 30 years of service have their entitlements reduced from $280,000 to $81,000 - that is staggering)
be forced to take ridiculously large pay-cut, unreasonable shifts changes and your terms and conditions of employment in enterprise agreements and staff contracts torn up with Fair Work's blessing? (the article said many workers received 43% pay cut)
Many Arrium workers which are also ASU members indicated that most business units are running at maximum capacity and the business is substantially outperforming targets and trading profitably. All they need now is certainty - job security, the future of Whyalla Steelworks and the company.
Why Sale?
How can a sale (of our strategic assets) to foreign buyer be good for the workers, suppliers, other stakeholders and the public? not to mention about the complex conditions likely to be attached in the bid including additional governments’ supports such as direct funding, guarantee and favorable policies. What about the tens and hundred million dollar fees associated to the sale for the administrator and its advisers? Would that be better off to use the money to upgrade the Whyalla steelworks for the benefits of the town, the workers and the communities?
What We Really Need
On the contrary (to a sale), all Arrium Australia needs is the support by the governments (and the banks) to recapitalise/refinance the remaining financing debts (which can be easily managed for a company with $400m + EBITDA) - no job losses, no loss in workers’ entitlements, no financial losses to the trade creditors and suppliers, no negative impact to national interest, Whyalla steelworks upgrade will add many new local jobs and will brighten the future prospect of the company.
Please read the below article and the statements made by your fellow union leader Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Secretary Steve McCartney, which will give you good idea the situation you and your represented members could be in few years from now if Arrium Australia is sold to the foreign buyer.
"...Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Secretary Steve McCartney commented on the ongoing dispute between Griffin workers and the company and called on the state government to help fix the situation. “Our members down there are the ones who have been put on the award and have had all of their entitlements taken off them, with a view to try and do a deal with this company,” he said. “We are calling on the government to get this fixed.” [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
Mr McCartney said their members’ entitlements have gradually been taken away by the company. “Companies don’t make decisions about this overnight, they have left our members out to dry and now they have stolen their entitlements,” he said. “Some of these guys have been there 30 years they would have been up for $280,000 in redundancy, but now they will only get $81,000.” “Their pay has already been reduced, all of their entitlements were accrued at $60 an hour, now they only get paid at $30 an hour.” [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
Mr McCartney believed the workers had not been supported by Fair Work Australia. “It’s almost like Fair Work Australia has worked in conjunction with the company to ensure that they can elude paying their entitlements,” he said. “It means that their job security is in jeopardy, that they won’t be talking about agreements anymore, and now we will be fighting to make sure this is fixed up, because we are not going to tolerate our members getting screwed over. We are not going to sit back and watch that happen.” “If they think they are going to sell a working mine, they are going to have to get their customers to walk past us out the front.” [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
Mr McCartney called on the McGowan government to help support the workers. “We are calling for McGowan to get involved and try and get this fixed, get some common sense back into this discussion If they are going to try and do a deal now, this has put everyone in a horrible position to try and negotiate anything in good faith and with an administrator,” he said. “One of the biggest problems we have had in the last six months is the mine has been run by a lawyer and a bank. “I can’t imagine us going any further and making any head way at all with an accountant and a bank.” [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
The announcement comes after protests at the mine last September against changes to workers conditions at the coal company. In June, the Fair Work Commission approved a decision that saw 70 maintenance workers receive a 43 per cent pay cut and shifts change to seven days on and three days off and seven nights on and four days off. [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
Protesters told the Collie Mail the new shifts had put unnecessary strain on local families. "These workers might as well be doing FIFO," one protester said. "The time they spend away from their families works out to be much the same and it's not healthy. "The women are left at home to pick up the family slack while the men slave away, unsure how safe their next pay check is. "You have to worry for their mental health." [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
Another protester voiced serious concerns about safety standards at the mine site. "Sooner rather than later someone is going to die and Griffin Coal will have blood on their hands," the protester said. "Lanco is an Indian company forcing Australian workers to do their job at Indian work standards."
