Plumbers Lose Vic Strike Case
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday November 4, 1986
MELBOURNE: The Plumbers and Gasfitters Employees' Union (PGEU) is coming under increasing pressure to drop its national campaign for shorter working hours and big pay rises.
Employers won a decision in the Victorian Industrial Relations Commission yesterday giving them the right to suspend without pay plumbers taking industrial action in support of the union's claims for a 35-hour week and pay rises of up to $70 a week.
The decision covering plumbers under State awards followed a similar ruling by the Arbitration Commission last month covering plumbers under Federal awards.
The union risks having its Federal award converted to a minimum rates award, cutting plumbers' base wage rates by up to $50 a week.
The PGEU's Federal executive is due to meet this week to decide whether to continue a three-month campaign which has disrupted building sites in all States, particularly in Victoria and NSW.
The union must also decide at Thursday's special unions conference in Melbourne whether to join other ACTU affiliates in a shift to a new two-tier wage fixing system.
The union was due to report back to Deputy President Joe Riordan of the Arbitration Commission in Sydney this Friday, after he asked at an earlier hearing for an end to industrial action.
© 1986 Sydney Morning Herald
