InfraBuild Workers To Walk Off The Job Amid Pay Talks

BY OLIVIA DILLON

Employees at Newcastle steel-maker InfraBuild will walk of the job from midday today, as they call for a fairer pay deal. 

The action involves members of the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU.  

Members at both the Rod and AusTube Mills say the company's wage offer fails to keep pace with the cost of living, and low staffing levels have been affecting the morale of workers. 

They also say management has moved them from a 12-hour shift pattern to an 8-hour one, and has taken away paid shower time and break provisions. 

Organiser, Ben Horan from the Newcastle Branch of the AWU, says they are currently negotiating two InfraBuild enterprise agreements, which both expired in August.

"There has been some movement from the company which is encouraging...but we're just coming to a sticking point at the moment around wages and trying to keep our members up with the cost of living," he said. 

The action will run for two hours, however Mr. Horan says they'll keep fighting if they have to. 

"Moving forward, we're going to be absolutely ramping it up a lot more, with minimum 12-hour stoppages and things of that nature." 

The industrial action marks the first time there have been strikes at the mills in 30 years. 

New report reveals $60,000 gender pay gap in the Hunter

BY DAKOTA TAIT

A new report's found, women across the Hunter are being paid on average $60,000 a year less than men.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency is putting the 40 percent gap down to the high concentration of men in high-paying industries such as mining and manufacturing, compared to the prevalence of women in lower-paying industries such as healthcare and social assistance.

Hunter Workers Women's Committee Chair Leanne Holmes says policy change is essential to levelling the playing field.

"We need to increase the wages and conditions of those lower-paying industries where women tend to work," she said. "And really increase, in both spaces, the capacity for women to earn better money."

"That includes making sure there's flexibility in rostering, and the support network you need at work when women have generally got caring responsibilities outside of work."

It's hoped the Federal Government's new workplace relations legislation will enable measures to encourage women's aspirations and participation across a wider range of sectors.

Ms Holmes is also calling for action on discrimination and sexual violence against women in male-dominated industries.

She says Australia needs to take a holistic approach to the issue.

"[Women] are on the lower incomes in the first place, they've got caring responsibilities, the cost of living is through the roof at the moment," she said.

"You only have to watch the news and see that there's mums with kids desperately trying to find housing, trying to afford food. This compounds it."

"The money is there. We just need to get women in industries."

Hunter retail workers calling for wage increase

BY OLIVIA DILLON

A new survey of nearly 10,000 retail, fast food and warehouse workers has highlighted the need for a national wage increase, both in the Hunter, and across the country.

The results of the survey from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), show members are struggling under falling living standards. 

SDA Newcastle branch secretary Barbara Nebart, commented on the survey results, and said workers across the country deserve better. 

"79 percent of people said that the rising cost of living is putting enormous pressure on their budgets, and their standards of living have decreased over the last five years," she said. 

"The vast majority also said any delay in the National Wage Case would cause them further hardship."

Ms Nebart said the SDA is now calling for a wage increase which reflects the latest inflation rate of 5.1%, as well as the increases in childcare and housing costs over the last year. 

"Over the last two years of national wage increases, retail and fast food workers- who have been essential workers throughout the pandemic- got delayed wage increases. They weren't payed on the 1st of July with everyone else. In 2020 it was delayed until February of the next year, and then last year it was delayed until September. What's the reasoning for that?" she said. 

Ms Nebart said Hunter workers have been particularly effected by rising housing costs and rental prices, as people sought to escape rising living costs by leaving the city. 

She also said an economic boost is particularly important for rural communities, with recent figures indicating retail wages contribute to over $15.7 billion per year to the economies of rural areas, country towns and regional cites. 

SDA National Secretary Gerard Dwyer said the National Wage Case needs to make up for a decade of sluggish wage growth.

He said "Retail workers are no longer working to get ahead, they are not even working to stand still, they are working hard to go backwards." 

 

Retail workers across the country are calling for a wage increase