At an August 8 mass meeting here, the union negotiating team reported to cheers that the company had finally agreed to guarantee all entitlements at no cost to the workers. Tristar bosses had previously proposed deducting funds out of a pay increase, but eventually agreed to take out insurance with an A$1.4 million down payment (A$1 = US 52 cents).

These entitlements have become a major national issue. Workers expect these benefits to be paid in the event of layoff or company closures. Public sympathy has grown for sacked (laid-off) workers in this situation in the wake of a number of recent high-profile corporate collapses. According to Labor Party leader Kim Beazley, in the last year more than 120 companies have declared bankruptcy with workers losing all their entitlements.

"Everybody's upbeat," Jack Vouzakis, a tool setter who has worked at Tristar for 13 years, said August 8. "We got our 10 percent [pay raise over two years], but the main focus was always to secure our entitlements."

Up to 12,000 auto workers were on temporary layoff without pay in Melbourne and Adelaide plants for more than a week as Ford, Mitsubishi, General Motors–Holden, and to some extent Toyota, ran out of parts in an industry that today relies on "just-in-time" supplies.

The just-in-time system, which arose out of intensified capitalist competition, means assembly parts are ordered as needed rather than stockpiled. This prevents capital stagnating unprofitably out of production or circulation, but also gives unions in supply industries greater strategic leverage.  
 
Government attacks strikers
As the strike halted an industry worth A$17 billion a year to the capitalists, the rulers began to feel the pressure. Anthony Abbott, the new minister for workplace relations in the conservative government, denounced the strikers for "industrial and economic treason," describing their action as being "against the national interest."

On August 7, two interstate union delegates from temporarily laid-off workers at Holden and Mitsubishi flew in to convey their support to the Tristar strikers.

Workers at Monroe, a car component company in Adelaide, also walked off the job August 2 in support of the union campaign to get employers to contribute 1.5 percent of their payrolls to Manusafe, a portable entitlements fund.

Responding to the government's accusations in front of the TV cameras August 7, Vouzakis said, "How dare Abbott call us traitors for fighting for our rights? He is a crook [who] will retire with his entitlements guaranteed by us, by the workers." He pointed out, "This is going to affect everyone. If this company can get away with it, other companies will go down the same path. There has to be a law to stop companies doing this."

Cecilia Mayola told the Militant she had worked in a series of companies--Bendix, Kirby, TRW, and now Tristar--for 30 years. As the earlier companies were taken over, "each time the money [entitlements] was transferred, but this company has used it up. What kind of democratic country is it where poor workers who get $10 an hour and fight for their rights, are condemned for it?"

Prime Minister John Howard attacked the "appalling timing" of the strike ahead of his talks in Tokyo August 3 with the head of Mitsubishi Motors. Howard offered more than A$200 million in tariff and tax incentives to the Japanese car corporation to keep open its factory in Adelaide.

Mitsubishi, which is suffering massive financial problems with worldwide pressures of overproduction, has warned that the plant will be closed if it doesn't return to profitability. Mitsubishi Australia lost A$186.4 million last year.  
 
Heavily immigrant workforce
Tristar is organized by several unions that formed a combined negotiating committee. About 70 percent of the workers are members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), with the rest in the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and some in the Electrical Trades Union and the National Union of Workers. There are about 20 women workers in the factory. The workforce is heavily immigrant, with workers from the Pacific islands and many parts of Asia, the Middle East, and central and southern Europe.

Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA, or contract) negotiations had begun in June but stalled over company attempts to strip away the redundancy (layoff) entitlements. Workers told the Militant there were growing signs the plant was likely to close, with operations shifted to Adelaide.

Dennis Chand, who works in the ball joints section, said, "The main issue is to find out the financial side of the company and make sure our money is safe." He explained that the union ranks had initiated action with an overtime ban. "Two weeks later, there was an official union ban." Then there was a "walkout for three days--July 25–27. When we came back on Monday, there was still no agreement so we took strike action."

Jimmy Hoose, a tool maker with the company for 15 years, told how the company "stole the money." When it came time to decide on strike action, "it was the immigrant workers who jumped up and said 'we're going out,'" he said, expressing respect for his co-workers born abroad.

Rocky Narain, a worker originally from Fiji who is of Indian descent, has worked at Tristar for 13 years in steering assembly. He explained how Tristar had taken over the former TRW. They ran down the workforce "from 430 to less than 350," he said. "The problem is they won't prove our money is safe. There are people who have been working here for 35 years. What will they get? Nothing!"

Chand said, "We are not fighting for a pay increase--this is about our own sweat money." Referring to the superannuation, or retirement, funding, he commented, "Government MPs are guaranteed their super, why not us? We're the backbone [of the country], not them."  
 
Impact of the strike
Chand remarked, "We're in a powerful position--they can't get parts from overseas" or use a strikebreaking force because of the specialized nature of many of the parts and work. He added, "This is the first time in the history of this factory there has been a strike of more than a few days."

The Industrial Relations Commission tried to force a return to work by supporting Tristar's call to end the bargaining pe riod, making further industrial action illegal on the grounds of damage to the national economy. Fines of up to $10,000 a day against the unions and individuals and million-dollar damage claims were threatened if the strike continued beyond 3:00 p.m. August 7. But the workers were not fazed.

Simon Kokinovski, a steering machinist at the plant for 27 years, voiced the confident sentiment of many when he said, "Let them do it! We'll keep fighting."

The dispute became a major political issue in the lead-up to the national elections scheduled later this year, with Liberal and National politicians attacking "union power" and the Australian Labor Party's (ALP) links with the union movement. The ALP responded by accusing the government of "partisan" support for employers and failing to adequately safeguard employee entitlements.

AMWU officers in particular had tried to get their proposal for employers to contribute to a separate trust fund under union supervision, known as Manusafe, adopted during the dispute.

With some 600 enterprise agreements across the manufacturing, automotive, and aviation industries now due for renegotiation, the AMWU and other unions are pushing for the Manusafe trust fund to be at the center of collective bargaining with major employers.

Jayasinga, an AMWU delegate and negotiating team member, who works in ball joint machining at the plant and is of Sri Lankan descent, said in an interview, "It's been a hard fight but in the end 'people power' won. Now we stand together."

Ron Poulsen is a member of the Maritime Union of Australia.  
 
 
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