News

Police arrested striking packaging workers earlier in the week, during a protest at the Visy factory in Dandenong, Melbourne.

Police arrived at the factory to remove workers who were who were lying arm-in-arm across the entrance to the factory to prevent trucks or management entering the plant. Police picked up and removed workers from where they were lying one by one, and arrested dozens of others.

 

Reports from Australia’s Channel Nine News said that arguments and scuffles had broken out along the picket line during the morning, adding that it was believed police took 12 protestors to the local police station and charged them.

 

Workers have been on strike for the past 12 days because of an ongoing bargaining dispute with the packaging company and it is thought that the company had further angered the protestors by flying in an extra workforce by helicopter to maintain production at the factory.

 

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union says Visy wants to expand casual employment and undermine job security and conditions, adding that the company has not budged on its position in the last two and a half months. Visy employees in Sydney are also on strike while those based in Western Australia and Queensland plan to conduct overtime bans and some one-hour stoppages, according to the union.