Ms BURKE (10:36 PM) —Tonight I would like to raise a matter of importance to a group of workers within my electorate of Chisholm. ACI is a multi-national company which was bought by the US multinational Owens-Illinios in 1998. The company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of glass containers, the leading glass-forming equipment manufacturer, and has a major presence in plastics packaging. In my electorate of Chisholm, ACI manu-factures dyes at the ACI mould plant in Lexton Road, Box Hill. Last December, just one week before Christmas, 83 workers were locked out by the company after ACI unilaterally ended negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement.

The basic facts are these: ACI and the AMWU, on behalf of their workers, had been attempting to renegotiate an enterprise agree-ment. Employees were unhappy with the contents of the proposed agreement in relation to changes to working conditions and health and safety. Furthermore, the company would not commit to reclassifying workers skills, leaving them unable to follow a career path. ACI management also proposed changes that would lead to one worker doing the work of up to three others. After a series of mass meetings, the employees rejected the proposed document. This dispute was never about pay. Despite the rantings and ravings of the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business, most workers and their unions try to achieve outcomes that better their conditions of work, rather than chasing exorbitant wage increases.

After the company's document was again rejected on 15 December, management locked out the workers. The Federal Court deemed this to be an illegal action and workers were sent back to work only to be locked out again on 29 December—at Christmas time, when families most need the money, denying workers access to their usual holiday pay over the Christmas close-down period. ACI has once again extended the lockout period until April, leaving the workers without pay and the site inoperative for some five months. The workers down at ACI in Lexton Road have occupied a part of the company's factory since they were locked out and, with the support of their union, they have remained in good spirits. I have visited the site on numerous occasions and have been impressed by the solidarity of the workers in the face of such adversity.

What sort of company would lock out their employees one week before Christmas? In Peter Reith's brave new world of industrial relations he likes to stereotype unionists as thugs ripping off the system whilst businesses are portrayed as innocent victims. This simplistic view of the world may serve Peter Reith's ambitions to hold himself up as the pin-up boy of the Right, but it does not provide much comfort to workers locked out because they refuse to sign up to an agreement that undermines their working conditions. The truth of the matter is that ACI can afford to halt production for months knowing they can afford to absorb the losses. Many are now asking: what is the hidden agenda behind a lockout of five months? Could the company be considering closing the plant and importing the products? Are workers facing redundancy? The company should come clean on its intentions.

ACI can obviously sustain the profit loss from the shut-down. This is a luxury the employees cannot afford. All a worker has is their labour. They cannot seek other employment or live off the dividends of their shares or interest of their investments. They have mouths to feed, mortgages and rent to pay, commitments to meet. Herein lies the fundamental imbalance between employers and employees. Some of the workers have applied for income support through the Centrelink office. Whilst those with spouses have been able to achieve some financial relief through their partner, those who are single have been ruled ineligible for payments.

When I asked for advice from the minister in the chamber tonight he confirmed that, under a section of the Social Security Act, these workers were denied access to Centrelink payments. It appears the workers are caught because the AMWU sent a notice of intended industrial action to ACI in November that has not been withdrawn. Under the act this constitutes `industrial action' and hence they are disqualified from receiving Newstart allowance, despite the fact that they are not on strike; they have been locked out by ACI. This anomaly requires some further examination and as this dispute continues to drag on it is one I intend to pursue. Preliminary legal advice provided to me states that the minister may have erred in his interpretation of the act.

I would like to end my comments tonight by praising all the employees down at Lexton Road who have kept a vigil for so long—their union, the AMWU, their delegates and organiser Peter—and their families for supporting them through this testing time. As everyone in this House should know, workers—even highly skilled tradesmen such as those at ACI in Box Hill—face an uncertain future in the manufacturing industry. To endure a lockout due to the intransigence of a company travelling very well financially is a hardship no Australian worker should have to put up with. I ask all members of the House to remember that these 83 guys are not just union members or workers. They are 83 people supporting families who have responsibilities and needs. They deserve respect and, above all, they need this parliament to reintroduce industrial relations powers to ensure that—(Time expired)