POSTCARD FROM QUEENSLAND LEFT: Jimmy Whiting RIGHT: Legacy Way Tunnel. of the projects that are re-shaping Brisbane from the ground up. In fact, the first stop is underground in the Legacy Way Tunnel, part of a road construction project. Ben says work here commenced in April 2011 and is expected to continue until the end of 2014. “When complete, Legacy Way will feature two parallel tunnels connecting Toowong to the city, approximately 4.3km long and 12.4m in diameter, each containing two lanes for traffic,” Ben says. <strong>The</strong> site’s senior AWU delegate is the Cairns-born, Brisbane-raised Jimmy Whiting. His job here is to provide logistics, registering workers in and out of the tunnel and checking they’re sufficiently equipped to take on the job. At the coalface, the work is hot, dirty and dusty. Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) blast their way through phyllite, a rock similar to black basalt. More than two million tonnes of spoil and rock will be removed during construction. Already ahead of schedule, the project has been progressing smoothly, especially when compared to the trouble-plagued Airport Link, a controversial Brisbane tollroad project that suffered lengthy delays, safety issues and cost overruns. <strong>The</strong> possible reason Legacy Way places its faith in Fair Work Australia legislation while Airport Link was a WorkChoices failure. “<strong>The</strong>re’s a chain of command locked into the EBA that is working well,” says Jimmy, emphasising that co-operation has been crucial to the tunnel’s success so far. “We don’t want to ambush management and when we do approach them with a problem, they have a real good go at fixing it. Productivity is the number one concern for them, but they look after us.” AT THE DAIRY Our next destination is Parmalat Australia, a large dairy plant on the banks of the Brisbane River, pasteurising, homogenising, and ultimately packaging 4.2 million litres of milk per week. Craig Koski is one of five AWU on-site delegates here. Working the 3pm-to-11pm shift making custards, creams and yoghurts for the southeast Queensland region, Craig is a cook in a very big kitchen. In many ways, he’s an industrial chef, but prefers to go by the title of mixer. <strong>The</strong> 600 workers at the South Brisbane plant, most of them AWU members, enjoy a good relationship with Parmalat management. Family ties are strong with Craig’s father, uncle and cousins all having clocked on here in the past. <strong>The</strong> latest EBA was negotiated in good faith, although management unsuccessfully tried to strip back new-hire leave entitlements. Outside of work, Craig enjoys the great outdoors. Fraser Island, a three-hour drive north of Brisbane, is a particular favourite where he enjoys camping with his wife and two girls, aged eight and 11. However, he does offer a warning for those heading in that direction. “Last time, we were camping on the foreshore and this dingo got into my sister-inlaw’s tent while we were asleep. We managed to scare it away, but they’re pretty cluey; they know how to unzip tents and they can even rip their way into a can of soft drink. <strong>The</strong> rangers told us that dingoes will break into your tent for something like a tube of toothpaste.” BACK AT HQ Back at the Brisbane office, we take time to talk to Bill Ludwig and Ben Swan about why they do what they do and why they feel so passionately about the AWU and defending workers’ rights. Soon after Campbell Newman took office in 2012, the new Liberal National Party premier summoned five major players from the Queensland trade union movement to a meeting. <strong>The</strong> AWU’s National President Bill Ludwig and Queensland Branch Assistant Secretary Ben Swan were among the chosen few. Once seated, Newman leaned across the table and addressed Bill Ludwig. “He said to me, ‘Bill, what we want to do, we want to sort of go back to the future, back 22 THE AUSTRALIAN WORKER www.awu.net.au
“We lived and breathed politics at home. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” RIGHT: AWU Queensland Branch Assistant Secretary Ben Swan. www.awu.net.au THE AUSTRALIAN WORKER 23
Change language