Armaguard cash handlers take a stand

Date: 19 December 2000

Angry Victorian cash room staff walked off the job on Monday over Armaguard's failure to negotiate a new enterprise agreement

Armaguard staff responsible to stocking Victoria's automatic tellers machines braved intimidation to attend a stopwork meeting on Monday 18 December.

The mass meeting of angry members of the Australian Services Union at Trades Hall agreed to take the 24 hour strike action after the breakdown of talks for a new enterprise agreement.

The union is seeking a pay rise of 3% backed to September, when the enterprise agreement expired. The management want the pay rise to operate from December.

The strike will affect 350 staff in seven sites across metropolitan and regional Victoria.

"Members are saying there was widespread intimidation by management to prevent people coming to the meeting today but we've had a great turn out. Our members are fed up," said Martin Foley, ASU Victorian Branch President.

"The members do not take this action lightly - we have been trying to get management to negotiate for months and we have to put up with stalling tactics, we want to resolve this, but we want a fair outcome," said Mr Foley.

"We apologise to the retailers and shoppers in Victoria, they have been caught in the cross fire. We hope the matter will be resolved quickly but we cannot rule out further action."

Cash room staff are a key link in the state's ATM system - they are responsible for ensuring stand-alone and some bank ATMs are stocked with cash.

David Leydon, ASU organiser covering Armaguard staff said management had cancelled "meeting after meeting" over the past few months. He congratulated members on coming to the mass meeting - which was a signal that workers were "fair dinkum" about getting a fair outcome.
The fact that managers had tried to stop Armaguard branch members from attending was proof that they are "spooked" by the members.
"This is where your strength is, in a united group," he said.

Management has reportedly referred the matter to the Comission for an urgent hearing.

For further information

Contact:	David Leydon
Union:	Victorian Trades Hall Council - OHS Unit
Phone:	0408 998849

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