Wednesday 14 December 2005

Workers at the James Hardie building products production site in Auckland have sent an open letter to management to express their concern that the company intends using untrained unskilled workers to perform the work of striking workers. The letter concludes, "We are genuinely concerned that long standing health and safety practices are being discarded in the interests of profit and that someone will be hurt."

Three weeks ago members voted almost unanimously to reject the company’s offer and begin industrial action. It is current practice at James Hardie that new staff undergo a one-week induction before working alongside a competent operator until they are assessed against the company’s skill matrix.

After mediation, the company offered five per cent for 15 months and three per cent for nine months. James Hardie also proposed several clawbacks, including a reduction in shift loading for 12-hour workers, removal of service holiday after 6 years, qualification of the redundancy clauses and removal of worker involvement from training procedures. Negotiations began in August and the collective agreement at the site expired on 30 September this year.