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26 September, 2011
Some 300 members of Australia’s Construction, Forestry, Mine and Energy Union (CFMEU) are locked in a fierce battle with the American door and window-maker Jeld-Wen. Woodworkers of the CFMEU’s Forestry, Furnishing and Timber Building Products Division have been on strike – and locked out five days – at factories in four Australian states.
The central issue is pay. CFMEU has been negotiating with Jeld-Wen subsidiaries Corinthian, William Russell Doors, and Stegbar since June over a new enterprise agreement, but the meagre wage increases offered over a three-year proposal would mean actual pay cuts for workers. In recent talks, the company reshuffled its pay offer but it still fell far short of Australia’s 4.5% cost-of-living rise.
Workers at six factories – including St. Mary’s near Sydney, New South Wales; Dandenong, Cambellfield and Scoresby in Victoria; Regency Park near Adelaide, South Australia; and Canningvale, Perth, Western Australia – took 48-hour strike actions on 6 September. They then were hit by the five-day lockout on 8 September. Workers immediately undertook further and varying strike actions over the last two weeks at the six worksites.
Photo: The Western Weekender
Global labour leaders attending the CFMEU’s National Construction Conference in Canberra recently visited the St Mary’s picket line on 16 September, and the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) has picked up the cause and is actively supporting CFMEU members. BWI has launched a protest campaign through its website. Please join that protest here.
CFMEU National lead Negotiator Phil Davies said the revised pay offer given after the company’s lockout ended on 13 September is worse than Jeld-Wen’s original “non-negotiable” pay proposal. If accepted, one-third of all job classifications would actually see a further decline in real wages compared to inflation. “All our members want is fair and reasonable pay and conditions,” he said.
The company is seeking to abolish an attendance-based bonus scheme as well. Meanwhile, the employer has sent letters to workers warning of future lockouts.
Family-run and closely-held Jeld-Wen, started in 1960 by Richard Wendt, purchased the Corinthian factories in Australia and Asia on the cheap during the Asian financial crisis in the mid-1990s, and in 1999 bought Stegbar from a UK-based company. In North America, Oregon-based Jeld-Wen overextended itself in recent years with diversification into ski resorts and holiday properties at the exact time housing and real estate markets crashed.
Next month, Canadian private equity company Onex is expected to close on a US$860 million infusion into Jeld-Wen, giving it 58% ownership of a company that operates 60 manufacturing and distribution sites in 22 countries. The deceased Wendt’s son, Roderick, will cease heading one of the world’s biggest door- and window-makers in exchange for an Onex selectee.