30 November, 2009
A new three-year labour contract was achieved for 470 Kimberly-Clark paperworkers at the Millicent, Australia, paper mill and Tantanoola pulp mill on 20 November. Union members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU), Pulp and Paper Division, ratified the accord with 82% approval, granting proof that a positive labour-management relationship can benefit workers in tough economic times.
The renewal agreement provides wage gains of 2.5%, 2.5%, and 4.5%, with the first year’s increase paid in back wages to 1 July 2009.
CFMEU’s Millicent Sub-Branch leaders used an excellent internal communications network to keep shop-floor workers informed on all details stemming from ten bargaining sessions dating back to mid-year, the date when draconian Australian individual work agreements (AWAs) expired and enterprise or collective agreements again became the official policy of the government of Australia..
At left, CFMEU Sub-Branch Secretary Kevin Millie, Mill Manager Scott Whicker, and CFMEU Pulp/Paper Federal Secretary Alex Millar
Branch Secretary Kevin Millie said the AWAs were never a concern in the lead-up to this year’s bargain, since Kimberly-Clark local management never had attempted to impose individual work agreements during the latter period of Conservative John Howard’s government. “We kept our members in the loop and that helped us get the agreement we got,” said Millie.
He added that sub-branch leaders issued communiqués after each session and that when management proposed a two-year agreement at 2.5% for each of the years, the committee to workers’ networking produced a massive turnout at a union meeting, thus squelching that proposal and sending the message that workers expect more.
“This is a win,” said Millicent Sub-Branch President Trevor Sinclair. “We maintained our terms and conditions and built on them in some areas.”
The CFMEU gained flexibility on long-service leave, allowing workers to take such time off in smaller blocks instead of the prior and required month at a time period. They also achieved wage guarantees on career-path transfers so workers will never receive less, and got written language that Kimberly-Clark will give formal reports on all temporary work performed inside the mills.
CFMEU members at Millicent during 20 November ratification meeting
In compromises to the company, the union agreed to a total on-site ban on smoking, ahead of South Australia state law due to take effect, and agreed to the mandatory wearing of Kimberly-Clark work uniforms.
CFMEU has had a good labour-management relationship at Millicent and Tantanoola, and with general manager Scott Whicker. Workers and managers have worked jointly and hard to deal with high energy costs. They have also dealt together on market pressures on paper towel and tissue manufacturing, including imports and tight domestic profit margins due to only two major Australian major chains that control retailing.
That jointness began in 2002 when the CFMEU Sub-Branch and Millicent management signed a memorandum of agreement, giving the go-ahead for the board of directors of the American-based company to make an A$300 investment at Millicent. That capitalization gave the mill Paper Machine No. 5. In return, the union agreed to transform to skills-based career paths and operator/maintenance duties on paper production equipment.
“The magnitude of that investment has become apparent in the years since,” said Sinclair. “Workers here are confident that Kimberly-Clark is committed to a future at Millicent and that has only enhanced our positive relationship.” (Millicent now operates with four paper machines and eight converting lines.)
In other CFMEU bargaining news related to the paper sector, at SCA’s Sancella feminine hygiene plant in Springvale, Victoria, near Melbourne, union members will vote on a new three-year labour contract later this week The tentative accord, also backdated to the summer, contains a wage package with 3.5%, 3.5%, and 3.5% wage increases. At SCA’s Box Hill towel and tissue mill, where 250 CFMEU members have been covered by an enterprise agreement, that contract comes due in March 2010.