Strike at Parts Producer Threatens Oz Auto Makers

Australia's Victoria state government is backing a parts manufacturer seeking to end a strike that threatens to halt production at GM Holden and Ford.

Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations Richard Dalla-Riva says the government is supporting an application to Fair Work Australia by components maker DAIR Industries to end a dispute that also is jeopardizing supplies of parts to Toyota and truck maker Kenworth.

Fair Work Australia is the independent national workplace-relations tribunal with the authority to regulate the taking of industrial action.

Melbourne’s The Age newspaper says the dispute centers largely on redundancy benefits for plant workers. The parties are to meet Sunday with Fair Work Australia Commissioner Wayne Blair.

DAIR, a wholly owned subsidiary of Autodom, makes rear bumper assemblies, foot brakes, clutch mechanisms, hood hinges, parking brakes and vehicle jacks. Strikers have allowed some workers to cross the picket line since the walkout began Wednesday, allowing limited production.

DAIR Industries Operations General Manager Kevin Boyle tells The Age the strike has not yet affected vehicle production but could cause “significant impact” by Tuesday.

“The ripple effect of shutting down the supply of parts to other companies across the supply chain will be disruptive in the extreme,” Dalla-Riva says in a statement. “Unless dealt with decisively, this dispute could see the production lines at Holden and Ford grind to a halt by as early as next week.”

Dalla-Riva says the ripple effect could lead to stand-downs for as many as 4,000 workers and cost the auto makers tens of millions of dollars for each day of lost production. “If production shuts down across the system, it will affect hundreds of businesses, and put at risk the livelihoods of many thousands of workers,” he says.

Dalla-Riva says the tactics adopted by the Australian Workers' Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, which represent DAIR’s 180 workers, are irresponsible.

“I hear a lot of union officials talking a lot about job security in the industry,” he says. “Yet here we have two unions threatening to hold to ransom not only the big car makers but much of the supply chain, and the thousands of Victorians working in the sector.”

The state has just announced a joint A$35 million ($36.8 million) package with the federal government aimed at helping secure a stronger future for companies in the auto-

supply chain.

“We are also rolling out a A$58 million ($61 million) manufacturing strategy to assist companies to become more globally competitive,” Dalla-Riva says. “But for every step forward that we take, the unions seem intent on taking the industry two steps back.”

AMWU Victorian Assistant Secretary Leigh Diehm calls Sunday's meeting a step in the right direction. But he criticizes Dalla-Riva’s remarks, saying, "It is massively disappointing to see Minister Dalla-Riva going out of his way to make trouble, when he should be concentrating on looking for a solution."