Canon members to escalate dispute

Date: 08 May 2002

WA, NSW and Victoria to strike today

ASU Services Branch members will meet this afternoon to consider an escalation of industrial action against Canon Australia in their current EBA dispute.

The move follows strike action across Australia today by technicians of the company in protest at what ASU Branch Secretary David Smith describes as Canon's 'miserable approach to their highly skilled employees'.

Technicians in Western Australia, NSW and Victoria walked off the job for 24-48 hours this morning after the company refused to shift on their current wage offer of a 1% annual increase to employees. The company also continues to refuse to agree to ASU demands for greater job security and redundancy provisions for workers.

Mr Smith angrily attacked Canon's stance, stating that "this is yet another example of a foreign owned corporate giant making huge profits by undermining the real wages of Australian workers whilst refusing to provide decent job security for their employees and their families.

"Here we have a multinational behemoth whose own profit forecast for the coming fiscal year is more than $1 billion yet they claim they cannot even afford to pay their own workers a decent cost of living increase! ," he said.

"This company has assets of over $20 billion and affords its managers and executive's generous redundancy provisions yet cannot see fit to offer the same terms and conditions to average workers should they fall prey to a restructure or redundancy. Is it any wonder that our members are angry?" he said.

Canon's main competitors in the business equipment industry, OCE and Fuji Xerox, recently settled disputes with the ASU by offering across the board wage increases of $2000 per year, improved redundancy provisions and a range of other advances to workers conditions.

Mr Smith said that "our members are not asking for the moon and the stars. Our claims at Canon are neither more nor less than that granted by their competitors. Canon should stop treating their employees like second class citizens and simply pay what the market dictates.

"All they are doing at present is alienating their own workforce and causing inconvenience to customers. It is time for their executives to stop playing Chris Corrigan and to sit down and resolve this dispute for the good of all," he said.

For further information

Contact:	ASU Qld State Secretary David Smith
Union:	Queensland Council of Unions
Phone:	07 3844 5300

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