Auspost - Postal workers strike

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Hundreds of postal workers have walked off the job in Queensland as part of an ongoing dispute with Australia Post.

More than 200 of them marched through Brisbane's CBD this morning to the General Post Office building.

They are among thousands of Australia Post employees who are taking industrial action across the country today and tomorrow.

Cameron Thiele from the union representing postal workers, the CEPU, says a new EBA [Enterprise Bargaining Agreement] threatens job security.

He says he hopes the strike ends the breakdown in negotiations.

"I hope common sense prevails and we do get back to meaningful discussions with post," he said

Australia Post spokeswoman Simone Kurtz says the EBA offer is very generous.

"It's certainly very disappointing that the union has decided to take this action," she said.

The CEPU has not ruled out further industrial action on Friday and next week.

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The postal workers’ union has agreed to stop the delay of mail trucks and harassment of workers attempting to cross picket lines at Victorian postal centres.

About a quarter of staff did not show up for work today as part of the ongoing industrial dispute which began yesterday evening.

In the Federal Court this afternoon, lawyers for Australia Post sought an urgent injunction to discontinue the alleged abuse and obstruction of trucks by 6pm to ensure the movement of mail.

They claimed the picket lines breached national workplace laws.

The application singled out union action which blocked mail trucks at centres in Dandenong, Melbourne Airport, Geelong and Ardeer during the busiest period of the year.

The Communications Union dismissed claims its members had obstructed trucks or harassed workers on sites, but said those people responsible had been asked to move by union delegates.

Counsel for Australia Post rejected the argument, saying the picket was organised and under the complete control of the union.

In an eleventh-hour move, the union agreed not to prevent access to the postal sites or abuse people entering Australia Post sites.

It also agreed to notify members at picket lines at Ardeer and Dandenong by 8pm tonight.

Picket lines at Geelong and the airport had since ceased, the union said. The hearing was adjourned until Friday.

Australia Post spokesman Alex Twomey today said the strike action and picketing had completely stopped the delivery of mail across Victoria.

About 4.1 million mail items were prevented from being delivered, he said.

Mr Twomey said the strike action had had only a minimal impact in NSW and Queensland and no effect elsewhere.

Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union national president Ed Husic disputed this and said mail had slowed to a trickle right along the eastern seaboard.

Long-running talks over a new enterprise agreement between the parties have broken down, with disputes over issues including job security, safety and take-home pay.

Last night, Australia Post said it expected only minimal impact from the strike, which was aimed at its services today and tomorrow.

Mr Twomey said a manager had been assaulted at one of the picket lines while the union has claimed that drivers had tried to run over protesters at a Sunshine West picket.

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ILLEGAL strike action is stopping Australia Post trucks at Geelong and several other Victorian facilities, the company says.

A community picket line at the Geelong Mail Centre is reported to have clashed with a postal truck on Tuesday evening.

Geelong Trades Hall delegate John Cameron, who was observing the picket line at the time, said no one was injured during the incident about 10.30pm.

"The truck just came through, slowed, then rammed right through them,'' he told AAP.

He said the people on the community picket line, which included members of unions other than CEPU postal workers, who were standing to one side, were forced to grab hold of the truck to avoid slipping underneath.

Pickets blocked trucks in at least five major mail sorting centres in the state and in one case a manager was allegedly assaulted, company spokesman Alex Twomey says.

"We think this is outrageous behaviour and we're going to be taking that up with the police,'' he told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Union action blocked trucks across the state in Geelong, Ballarat, Dandenong, Melbourne Airport and Ardeer.

In Melbourne, a manager was allegedly punched at the city's main airport sorting facility, he said.

"Let's be clear. This is an illegal picket,'' he said.

"This is not a peaceful picket and when you start blocking trucks in and out that becomes an illegal picket.''

In CCTV footage released by the company, one truck is seen being blocked from accessing a mailing facility by several people. Later, a man in a neon yellow vest that says ``union'' stops a truck from leaving by resting his back against it.
Mr Twomey blamed the activity of a handful of individuals.

"We're really having a few individuals, less than 20 in a few key areas, stopping the whole of people's Christmas presents, letters to Santa, Christmas cards not going through the mail.''

Mr Twomey said if such action continued beyond Friday, customers would see major issues in postal delivery next week.

CEPU Victorian branch secretary and treasurer Joan Doyle said today that about 70 people were on the picket line outside the Dandenong Letters Centre, in Melbourne's southeast.

"Every shift that comes through joins the picket line in the mail centre,'' Ms Doyle told AAP from the picket line.

"Basically nothing is coming in or out,'' she said. "We don't think there is any product in the centre.''

Ms Doyle said the picket line would end at 4am on Thursday.

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LEGAL challenges have halted nationwide industrial action at Australia Post that yesterday shut down Victoria's mail system with more than 4 million letters and parcels unable to be delivered.

Last night national workplace relations tribunal Fair Work Australia ruled in favour of an application by Australia Post that will suspend today's planned nationwide strike action, and separate legal action in the Federal Court saw the union agree to abandon pickets at sites in Victoria.

Communications Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) national president Ed Husic said the union had been ordered by Fair Work Australia to not proceed with a series of planned strikes for today through to Monday.

He said union members could still engage in work bans such as not checking mail for stamps. It is believed they would be unable to resume big strikes until at least next Tuesday.

Australia Post spokesman Alex Twomey said the main impact of yesterday's nationwide strike was felt in Victoria and there was only ''minimal impact'' in NSW and Queensland and no impact elsewhere.

Mr Husic said Post's claims were wrong and that mail had slowed to a trickle right along the eastern seaboard, with ''strong support'' to the union from Post employees.

Mr Twomey said Post was able to manage staff going on strike - he said fewer than a quarter of its 35,000 staff took industrial action yesterday - but the pickets in Victoria had stopped mail moving.

The threat of mail stopping for a second day in Victoria appeared to recede last night after an application to the Federal Court by Australia Post.

The CEPU agreed to not prevent access to postal sites and to notify its members at the picket lines.

Australia Post said a left-wing activist network, Union Solidarity, was involved in the Victorian pickets. Union Solidarity, which said it folded in February 2009, had played a big role in a number of industrial disputes when the Howard government was in power and was used to bypass tough anti-strike laws.

Mr Twomey said most of those on the picket lines were not its employees and some came from other unions. Reports last night indicated the picket lines were being dismantled, he said.

He was ''disappointed'' that Victoria Police had failed to remove the ''illegal pickets'' that were threatening an essential service. ''We've placed calls; they've said they had no real interest,'' he said. Victoria Police did not respond.

Yesterday's strike comes after long-running talks over a new enterprise agreement between the parties broke down over issues including safety, job security and take-home pay.

The union and Post expressed a willingness to talk to resolve the dispute but accused each other of acting in bad faith.

As well as claims that a senior Post manager was assaulted after driving a truck to a picket line, there were contested claims from the union that people on the pickets were nearly run over.

Communication Workers' Union branch secretary Joan Doyle said management had been ''provocative'' and there had been attempts to run over picketers. She said there were about 60 to 70 people at the Dandenong mail centre.

Ms Doyle said the industrial action was over Post's revenue and increasing of their costs.

Mr Twomey said if the pickets in Victoria were lifted, delays in the mail could be limited to only a day.

Australia Post was also attacked by the Major Mail Users of Australia chief executive, John Gilroy, who represents big business mail users, who yesterday accused Post of acting like a ''Big Brother monopoly'' and often acting arrogantly

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Postal workers in Queensland are back at work after Fair Work Australia ordered them not to take strike action planned for this week and Monday.

Hundreds of postal workers walked off the job in Queensland yesterday as part of an ongoing dispute with Australia Post.

More than 200 of them marched through Brisbane's CBD to the GPO building yesterday morning.

The dispute between workers and Australia Post delayed the delivery of millions of letters and parcels.

But Australia Post spokesman Alex Twomey says further industrial action is possible from next Tuesday, so he cannot rule out delivery delays before Christmas.

He says the main backlog of mail is in Victoria.

"In New South Wales and in Queensland - most of our staff, about two-thirds - have shown up and we've also been able to have casuals and other arrangements in place to ensure that the mail kept moving," he said.

Joan Doyle, a spokeswoman from the union representing postal workers, the CEPU, says the union must warn Australia Post about any more planned strikes.

"We need three days' notice to give Australia Post of further stoppages and in those notices, we have to specify more precisely who's doing it, where, and the rest of it, and for how long," she said.

Mr Twomey says the mail should now be on the move.

"It's a huge relief for ourselves and for the public that the mail will now start to get through," he said.

"We're very disappointed it had to come to this at all, but it's very important for the mail at this time of year to go through.

"We have two-thirds of our staff wanting to work and this enables them to be able to get back to work."