AMWU members at the Komatsu site in Fairfield, NSW have successfully negotiated a 19% pay rise in their first ever union collective agreement.

For the first time, workers’ benefits at the site include a commitment from the company to develop and implement a seven level classification system. The 19% wage rise will be paid over the next four years and improved working conditions for the 27-strong workforce will begin immediately.

A successful recruitment campaign in 2008 saw more than half the workforce join the union with the aim of organising to win a collective agreement.

AMWU delegate Danasa Danasa says that workers are now much better off.

“It was a big concern that there was no union agreement. Everything we gained in this agreement were things we had to do without for a long time. The main reason why people joined the union was for protection - under our previous conditions there was no allowance for union involvement, and now there is.”

Keith Brown, AMWU organiser, said that apprentices on the site would also benefit as a result of the agreement.

According to Danasa, morale is now much higher at the site since the agreement has been reached.

“This industry pulls a lot of money out of mining, but they seem to have had a tendency not to reinvest in their workers. We felt left behind.

“Now we’ve got this agreement though, everyone’s looking up and feeling like we’ve achieved something.”

Komatsu is a leading construction and mining machinery manufacturer with 35 service depots around Australia. Workers at the Fairfield site are mainly service technicians and workshop mechanics.