Workers at Boeing subsidiary Hawker de Havilland returned to work yesterday morning after taking industrial action for three weeks after the sacking of a worker.
A settlement was reached on Sunday between the company and the AMWU which was supported by the workers at a meeting on Monday afternoon.
The eight hundred workers decided to go on strike on April 8 after a cell leader (first line supervisor) was sacked over issues related to time keeping.
The workers had tried to raise problems with the time keeping by going through the dispute resolution process in their agreement and going to the Industrial Relations Commission as early as January this year.
The company argued that the Commission was legally unable to adjudicate on the matter.
AMWU National President Julius Roe said that the escalation of the problem, culminating in a sacking was due to deficient IR laws.
“Workers were saying that the system wasn’t working properly, but they couldn’t get their issue dealt with. The Commission couldn’t hear it because of the technicality that was argued and won by the company.
“This dispute shows that there is a need for good workable IR laws which allow workers and employers to sit down and sort these problems out. Legal tactics to prosecute workers were never going to resolve the dispute.”
The union and the company both urged a return to work but this was never going to succeed unless the underlying issues were addressed. In the end the Managing Director and Mr Roe sat down and negotiated a settlement which dealt with the workers concerns and ensured that there is a fair process for the workers disciplined.
The workers were supported by local and international unions, including the Machinist Union from the USA.
Twenty 457 visa workers from Spain who were hired by the company refused to cross the picket line when they arrived and realised what was going on.
Many contractors also refused to work while the dispute was on.
Boeing has agreed to not pursue damages against the employees, which it claimed ran to more than $1m a day. It will also withdraw all legal action against the employees and union.