By CASEY NEILL
EVEN Father Bob Maguire has thrown his support behind about 30 workers who’ve been camped out in a Dandenong factory canteen for almost a week.
The International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF) employees arrived at the Frankston-Dandenong Road premises about 6am last Tuesday to find they were banned from going inside.
The American-owned multinational company supplies flavourings to Australia’s biggest food producers in liquid, powder and spray.
National Union of Workers (NUW) spokeswoman Emma Kerin told the Journal from inside the lunchroom that the workers had been due to start protected industrial action that day.
She said enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) negotiations started last June and had stalled because IFF insisted on cutting conditions.
“Protected industrial action was going to be a ban on paperwork,” Ms Kerin said.
“That led to quite an extreme response which was a lockout.
“They then voted to stay in the lunch room because what they’d really like to do is go to work.
“We’ve had a couple of people leave just because of commitments.
“Otherwise everyone else has remained.”
Ms Kerin said union members and community supporters had set up barbecues in front of the premises and brought in food to make sandwiches.
“There’s a lot of floor space, so we’re making do,” she said.
“Family and friends have been bringing down blankets and sleeping bags.”
Worker Arthur Ingles said these efforts and a visit from outspoken veteran priest and media personality Father Bob Maguire on Friday had boosted morale.
“Everyone was really, really happy to see him,” he said.
“He was as outraged as anyone else at the way events have unfolded here.
“It’s the unseen support that really keeps you going.
“Sacrifice is the only word you can use.
“None of us undertake work these days because we’re bored.”
Mr Ingles said they were foregoing much-needed income for the sake of principles.
He said workers wanted to hold onto two 10 minute paid breaks each day, a $50 a day bonus for sick leave not taken and payout of personal leave on termination after seven years’ service.
“That represents a lot of money to a lot of people,” he said.
“That’s been built into their costings from the day it was incorporated into the EBA.
“You can hardly expect us to be accountable for how they manage their liabilities.”
Mr Ingles said the last contact workers had from management came on Friday 23 January and was an instruction to turn up for work on Tuesday to be addressed.
“But we found a notice on the perimeter fence advising we were locked out because of our decision to take protected industrial action,” he said.
“We’re prepared to hold this line for as long as we have to. The sooner it ends, the better for everyone.
“This whole scenario should be a partnership.
“The company has needs that we satisfy and the company satisfies needs that we have.
“No one is winning out of this situation.
“But the alternatives are worse than where we find ourselves at the moment.
“The alternatives that the company want to incorporate into the EBA would create much more pain for a much longer period of time.”
When the Journal spoke to Mr Ingles on Friday, he was looking forward to a ‘family day out’ barbecue at the site on Saturday.
“We want to acknowledged as best we can from where we are that we see that support, we appreciate that support and it shouldn’t go unrecognised,” he said.
NUW communications team member Carina Garland said a meeting scheduled for 5pm Thursday at IFF management’s request never happened.
“We agreed to meet with them and the deputy president of the commission at the Fair Work Commission,” she said.
“Our industrial officer was on the tram when she got a phone call from the deputy president saying that the company had refused to show up to the meeting they’d initiated.
“It leaves us in the lunch room.
“And it leaves the company open to come up with a deal that is fair to our workers.
“If they’re prepared to move on some of the unreasonable things that they’ve refused to move on, we’ll consider that.”
The Occupy Dandenong movement has received almost 900 signatures on a www.coworker.org petition calling for IFF Asia Pacific regional operations manager Arjan Koudijs to meet with employees and end the lockout.
“All we want is to be heard and genuinely negotiate a workplace agreement, which benefits the interests of both the workers and the interests of the company,” the petition said.
“We were promised there would be a cultural change from management. But things have only gotten worse. Local management couldn’t care less about us.”
The Journal contacted IFF but did not receive any response.
A media statement said the lockout was to protect food safety because the protected industrial action would have put that at risk.
