Teams of locked-out workers have been handing out leaflets at nearby coal mines and factories explaining the issues in their fight and asking for support. Delegates have traveled across Australia to speak to meetings of workers in Western Australia, Victoria, and Queensland, including union rallies from Melbourne to Orange, west of Sydney.

The 70 workers at Joy belong to three unions: the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), the Australian Workers' Union, and the Communications Electrical Plumbing Union.

Joy is a manufacturer of heavy mining equipment in this small town near coalfields south of Sydney. It is a subsidiary of Harn-ischfeger, a U.S. company based in Wisconsin. Joy also has plants in Rockhampton, Queensland, and Cardiff in Newcastle. On July 12 workers at both these plants went on strike for 24 hours in support of their fellow unionists at Moss Vale. Weekly donations from them and workers at other plants around Sydney have been coming in, including $5,000 from coal miners.  
 
'Solidarity: only way to break lockout'
"It's been wonderful support. It is the only way to break the lockout," commented Neville Watling, on the picket line at Joy. "Where would you be if you weren't in the union," he added. Workers pointed to the importance of solidarity action taken by coal miners. "The only mining machine that has been sent out was black banned," Watling explained, which means a ban on union labor working on the equipment.

The bosses have organized for staff engineers to carrying out production work inside the plant. After doing repairs on a continuous miner, they posed to have their photos taken opposite the picket line as it was trucked out. But when it arrived at the pit the miners union declared it unsafe and it is still sitting at the top of the pit.

Workers at Joy have been trying to win a new agreement since last December. They are fighting for a fair and reasonable wage increase, in opposition to the company's use of casual workers, for a guarantee from the company that their entitlements are secure, for a single contract to cover the whole site, and for protection of the current conditions of employment. The company has taken a hard antiunion line.

On June 30 the company sent a letter to all workers notifying them of their intention to end the lockout on certain conditions. An information leaflet put out by the Joy workers described the letter as industrial blackmail. "The gist of the notice was that if employees didn't negotiate in good faith after they returned to work then they would be locked out again for a further five weeks," stated a union fact sheet. Workers unanimously rejected the company proposal and voted to strike. The lockout was reimposed.

On July 28, union members attended an Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) meeting to oppose the company's proposal to cancel their agreement. In a surprise move, the company withdrew this proposal and said that instead it wanted to move to arbitration and conciliation. Following negotiations between the company and the unions, a mass meeting of the Joy workers was held August 4, which unanimously rejected the company's proposal and voted for a one-week strike.

Joy, which gave no offer in writing, proposed a 5 percent pay raise over two years with no back pay. All other demands and conditions were to go to arbitration. The bosses insisted on more than one agreement on site. "Blokes wanted something concrete in writing before going back. Once you go back it's hard to wind the campaign up again," said AMWU shop steward David Turner.

The company responded with threats of fines against individual workers, claiming the strike is illegal. Turner called it "waving the big stick. It's a last ditch attempt to get us back to work so they can arbitrate on our conditions."

During the lockout the company took action in the Supreme Court against the three unions. Following solidarity actions on the picket lines involving students, wharfies, and construction workers, the company also took individual court action against Arthur Rorris, secretary of the South Coast Labour Council, and Andrew Ferguson, state secretary of the construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. Records of the Maritime Union of Australia and the Students Union have been subpoenaed as well.

Workers at Joy refuse to be intimidated and are demanding the withdrawal of legal action against Rorris and Ferguson before they return to work.

Linda Harris is a member of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia.  
 
 
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