AMWU members at a Melbourne ceramics manufacturer have won a 13.25% wage increase, full back pay and a $1000 sign-on bonus after a 9-month negotiation, which ended with three weeks of industrial action.

The workers at Morgan Technical Ceramics in Notting Hill, Victoria, are now back at work after union collective agreement negotiations successfully concluded this week.

In a great win for members, the new agreement maintains all their previous conditions.

Industrial action began at the site just before Easter this year, after negotiations had broken down. The company – which initially was offering a 0% wage rise despite a highly profitable year – was threatening to strip away conditions which had been in place for almost thirty years, and had threatened not to back-date any payrise to the expiry of their previous agreement on June 30 2009.

AMWU organiser, Dinh Nguyen, says members are ‘over the moon’ with the outcome.

“It’s fantastic.

“Our industrial action was the main reason they agreed to our claims. We had full solidarity on the line. The company is very busy, they have a lot of contracts coming in. So when they tried to bluff us and test how strong we are, we stood together and succeeded.

“It’s a terrific outcome”.