Carlton and United Breweries

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:25): People who know me well would know that I do not really have very much interest in beer or cider and that I have to be very serious to get excited about football, although I do barrack for Port Power, which I know is a disappointment to some. However, most of us in here understand why I support Port Power.

When I read news reports about industrial disputes with regard to beer, I thought, 'Oh well, that's really terrible.' I have had some experience as an organiser or industrial officer in representing workers who have worked in our local breweries in South Australia, so I have some understanding of the area. I was a bit shocked to read that the entire maintenance crew at Carlton and United Breweries had been sacked and then invited to reapply for their old jobs on individual contracts with a 65 per cent wage cut. I thought, 'Well, this is certainly a bad omen.'

I decided to do a little bit more research on Carlton and United Breweries. I then found in subsequent news items that non-union labour had been bussed through a picket line because these maintenance workers were not prepared to take a 65 per cent wage cut. Other workers, the forklift drivers, then walked off the job because the wage negotiations they had been involved in resulted in an offer of a three-year wage freeze, so this obviously did not go down very well with them.

Other media reports say that this ongoing dispute at the Carlton and United Breweries plant was exacerbated by the fact that the enterprise bargaining agreement that was being considered had actually been voted on by three casual workers in Perth two years ago. The reports say that the enterprise agreement was brought in by the brewery's new maintenance labour contractor, Programmed Skilled, which is based in Western Australia, and the enterprise agreement was struck under the name of a subsidiary called Catalyst Recruitment.

I have had the opportunity to negotiate a number of enterprise agreements in my time, as have other people in this place. As a union official, usually you have a vote amongst the workers concerned to find out whether they support the proposal that is being put up and then make any amendments to reflect the consultation you have with your members. As I said, these three workers were in Western Australia and they apparently signed this agreement on behalf of workers throughout Australia who are covered by the brewery area.

These three people are reported to be casual workers, one of whom had been employed for six days not by Carlton and United Breweries but by a third party, which was a labour contractor. This particular young man is reported, certainly in ABC and The Age media reports, as saying that he did not know what the company was that he was signing an agreement for. This is the quote: 'It's pretty blurry. I didn't really know much about it. I just signed it because they asked me to do it.'

The story gets worse. The Catalyst Services Enterprise Agreement 2014 has the scope for covering jobs in manufacturing and associated industries, building and construction, joinery and building trades, electrical and communication fields, mining, and many more. It is also applicable across all states in Australia.

The story goes on to say that this so-called agreement was approved by the Fair Work Commission and tabled before the commission. It actually stated that it would cover three workers, that three casual workers had voted on it and that it had been negotiated on that basis. The Fair Work Commission still did not seem to have a problem with it.

Time expired.