Fw: Heat & Bulldust (from Jeremy, ASF Melb)

["Collective of self help groups." <COSHG_user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi comrades, it was suggested to me that readers of this list might find
the following of interest...best regards,jeremy....

----------
>
> ----------
> > From: Collective of self help groups. <COSHG_user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: rworker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Heat & Bulldust
> > Date: Friday, 21 February 1997 3:23
> >
> >    Factory management often seem to find the concept of heat hard to
> > grasp, maybe because they work in air conditioned offices themselves.
> I've
> > been working for the past few years at the Holden plant in Port
> Melbourne,
> > so I thought I was beyond being surprised at management stupidity, but
> the
> > way they are handling the current heat-wave is a reminder of what
> bossdom
> > does to the brain. The so-called "heat agreement" at Holden is  very
> > modest- when the temperature outside the factory is 30C the company
> > supplies cold drinks (that is , cordial), when the heat outside hits
35C
> > we get rested ten minutes in the hour. Its hotter inside the factory
> than
> > out, how much hotter depends where you work. Management resents this,
> they
> > think (and say) that workers in Thailand etc work in the heat so why
not
> > Australian workers? Commonly supervision discourages people from
taking
> > heat breaks, but here in Melbourne we've had a string of mild summers
so
>
> > the issue has not in a big way come up for a few years....until this
> year.
> > Management usually pretty much sort of provides the cold drinks. They
> did
> > begin by fobbing us off with a warm sugary concoction thats useless in
> the
> > heat; but after a few days and a stop work meeting by the trades
workers
> > an acceptable cold drink was distributed to most areas. The non-trades
> > vehicle division workers should of course have joined the tradies in
> this
> > and a later stop work meeting but the Vehicle Division (of  the AMWU)
at
> > Holden is pretty much dysfunctional. The tradies also got a slightly
> > improved heat agreement , basically 15 minute breaks at 40C outside
> > temperature. The lack of vehicle division support was all the more
> > shameful as it is really the non-trades workers who need the breaks,
> > tradies are mostly maintenance workers in a much better position to
> > structure their time than production workers.
> >                       Production workers are routinely cheated out
their
> > heat breaks. Sometimes they are simply told not to take them,
sometimes
> > management lies to workers about what the temperature is (we don't
take
> > radios to work) and for that matter so sometimes does the shop
steward;
> on
> > at least one assembly line at Holden teabreaks (which are 20 minutes
> > because of RSI) are broken into two periods of 10 minutes, and
declared
> to
> > also be heat breaks. So while it may be that workers don't work over
> much
> > more than 50 minutes at a stretch at +35C, yet they get no extra heat
> > relief at all. On another line workers had to threaten to walk out to
> get
> > their cold drinks , this with an outside temperature of +40C,  they
and
> > continue to be harassed and intimidated about taking heat breaks, and
I
> > suspect the intimidation is on the whole successful. This is the V6
> > assembly line, I used to work there myself. Workers on this line have
> > cooperated with management to get a high production speed; people like
> to
> > take pride in their work, and an assembler's pride is speed. On other
> > occasions production workers have spontaneously called in sick in
such
> > numbers as to stop assembly lines from running; and in other areas
again
> > supervision can be evaded.     Union office seems to be better than
the
> > local stewards, I'm told that the vehicle division organizer assigned
to
> > Holden thought that we should have stopped work with the tradies.When
I
> > ring them up and complain that the heat agreement is being flouted
they
> > make sympathetic noises and promise to"get onto the company" etc. But
a
> > measure of union office's alienation from the members is that so far
as
> I
> > know I haven't persuaded one other worker that it is worth 40 cents to
> > ring them and explain what is happening."Union,company, all the same"
> > people say....and no, this is not the voice of militant syndicalism
but
> > the voice of apathy and despair. In situations like at Holden, where
> such
> > grass rooots organisation as exists is simply too weak, I see little
> > alternative to working with the union. If we had a strong
> > anarcho-syndicalist movement it might be different. Admittedly we can
> > expect little from the reformist union, but we should make sure we get
> > that little.
> >                       Although I am a production worker it happens
that
> I
> > am able to attend the tradie  meetings, and was present at the last of
> the
> > stop-work meetings mentioned above, where the tradies voted to accept
a
> > slightly improved heat agreement.There was a motion from the floor
that
> > workers should walk off at 40C and claim at least half pay. The tradie
> > organizers present made light of this suggestion, one even sank to
> > suggesting that we should pull our heads in because of the Howard
> > government, but all the same it nearly got up. Afterwards I found out
> that
> > the official policy of the AMWU on heat is that we should knock off at
> 38C
> > on full pay! The breach between trades and production workers is one
of
> > the longrunning problems at Holden; so it was another good sign that
> > numbers of tradies made it clear that production workers were welcome
at
> > tradie meetings with or without the support of the Vehicle Division.
> >                                                       So, a few good
> signs
> > but not really enough.
> >

>
> >           Jeremy
> >


     --- from list aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---