About 100 employees of Note Printing Australia (NPA) showed up at the picket line today to demand better pay and conditions. The one-day strike is part of a series of industrial actions following months of unsuccessful negotiation with management.
NPA employs about 150-160 union members across the AMWU, Finance Sector Union (FSU) and Electrical Trades Union (ETU) at its facility in Craigieburn, Victoria. 97 percent of employees approved the industrial action seeking to force management back to the table to negotiate for better pay without sacrificing conditions. "The members rejected the company’s proposal in terms of selling off conditions for a pay increase, and we’re hopeful that the company comes back next week with a better offer," said Tony Piccolo, assistant secretary for print at AMWU Victoria. "The action is going ahead, it’s well-attended. We had a breakfast of champions to start it off, people were there from 6am, and at 10am we said enjoy the weekend."
Outstanding issues include a four percent pay rise, a casual conversion clause for labour hire, 20 days domestic violence leave, and completion of a classification review which has been negotiated for 12 months with no resolution. "The members just want a fair agreement that delivers the wage rises the RBA itself is calling for," said Piccolo.
NPA has produced Australian banknotes for more than 100 years, evolving from T.S. Harrison’s original print works that produced Australia’s first circulating banknote series in 1913. It is a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia, which declined to comment.